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MIND AND BODY 



MIND AND BODY 



OR 



MENTAL STATES AND PHYSICAL 
CONDITIONS 



BY 



WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON 



L. N. FOWLER & COMPANY 

7. Imperial Arcade, Ludgate Circui 

London, E. C, England 



1910 

THE PROGRESS COMPANY 

CHICAGO, ILL. 






COPTRIOHT, 1910 

By 
THE PROGRESS COMPANY 



P. F. Pettibone & Oo. 

Printers and Blndors 

Chicago 



(gC.lA268?77 



CONTENTS 



Foreword . .; 9 

I. The Subconscious Mind 15 

11. The Sympathetic System 29 

m. The Cell-Minds 39 

IV. The Mental Basis of Cure 58 

V. The History of Psycho-Therapy. 84 

VI. Faith Cures 115 

Vn. The Power of the Imagination . . . 135 

Vin. Belief and Suggestion .155 

IX. Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 173 

X. The Reaction of the Physical 196 



I 



FOREWORD 

Mind and Body— Mental States and Physi- 
cal Conditions 1 To tlie mind of those who 
have contented themselves with merely the 
snperficial aspects of things, these two things 
—mind and body; and mental states and 
physical conditions— seem to be as far apart 
as the two poles; seem to be opposites and 
contradictories impossible of reconciliation. 
But to those who have penetrated beneath the 
surface of things, these two apparent oppo- 
sites are seen to be so closely related and in- 
ter-related—so blended and mingled together 
in manifestation— that it is practically im- 
possible to scientifically determine where the 
one leaves off and the other begins. And so 
constant and close is their mutual action and 
reaction, that it often becomes impossible to 
state positively which is the cause and which 
the effect. 

In the first place. Science now informs ua 
that in all living substance, from cell to mam- 



10 Mind and Body 

moth, there is and must be Mind. There can 
be no Life without Mind. Mind, indeed, is 
held to be the very **livingness" of Life— 
the greater the degree of manifestation of 
Mind, the higher the degree of Life. More- 
over, the New Psychology informs us that 
upon the activities of the Subconscious Mind 
depend all the processes of physical life— 
that the Subconscious Mind is the essence of 
what was formerly called the Vital Force— 
and is embodied in every cell, cell-group or 
organ of the body. And, that this Subcon- 
scious Mind is amenable to suggestion, good 
and evil, from the conscious mind of its 
owner, as well as from outside. When the 
subject of the influence of Mental States upon 
Physical Conditions is studied, one sees that 
the Physical Condition is merely the reflec- 
tion of the Mental State, and the problem 
seems to be solved, the mystery of Health 
and Disease solved. But in this, as in every- 
thing else, there is seen to be an opposing 
phase — the other side of the shield. Let us 
look at the other side of the question : 

Just as we find that wherever there is liv- 
ing substance there is Mind, so do we find 



Foreword 11 

that we are unable to intelligently consider 
Mind unless as embodied in living substance. 
The idea of Mind, independent of its sub- 
stantial embodiment, becomes a mere ab- 
straction impossible of mental imaging— 
something like color independent of the col- 
ored substance, or light without the illumi- 
nated substance. And just as we find that 
Mental States influence Physical Conditions, 
so do we find that Physical Conditions in- 
fluence Mental States. And, so the problem 
of Life, Health and Disease once more loses 
its simplicity, and the mystery again deep- 
ens. The deeper we dig into the subject, the 
more do we become impressed with the idea 
of the universal principle of Action and Ee- 
action so apparent in all phenomena. The 
Mind acts upon the Body; the Body reacts 
upon the Mind ; cause and effect become con- 
fused; the reasoning becomes circular— like 
a ring it has no beginning, no end ; its begin- 
ning may be any place we may prefer, its 
ending likewise. 

The only reconciliation is to be found in 
the fundamental working hypothesis which 
holds that both Mind and Body— both Men- 



12 Mind and Body 

tal States and Physical Conditions— are the 
two aspects of something greater than either 
—the opposing poles of the same Reality, 
The radical Materialist asserts that the Body 
is the only reality, and that Mind is merely 
its ** by-product." The Mentalist asserts 
that the Mind is the only reality, and that 
the Body is merely its grosser form of mani- 
festation. The unprejudiced philosopher is 
apt to stand aside and say: **You are both 
right, yet both wrong— each is stating the 
truth, but only the half-truth." With the 
working hypothesis that Mind and Body are 
but varying aspects of the Truth— that Mind 
is the inner essence of the Body, and Body 
the outward manifestation of the Mind— we 
find ourselves on safe ground. 

We mention this fundamental principle 
here, for in the body of this book we shall 
not invade the province of metaphysics or 
philosophy, but shall hold ourselves firmly to 
our own field, that of psychology. Of course, 
the very nature of the subject renders it nec- 
essary that we consider the influence of psy- 
chology upon physiology, but we have re- 
membered that this book belongs to the gen- 



Foreword 13 

eral subject of the New Psychology, and we 
have accordingly emphasized the psychologi- 
cal side of the subject. But the same mate- 
rial could have been used by a writer upon 
physiology, by changing the emphasis from 
the psychological phase to the physiological. 
We have written this book to reach not 
only those who refuse to see the wonderful 
influence of the Mental States over the Phys- 
ical Conditions, but also for our '* metaphys- 
ical" friends who have become so enamored 
with the power of the Mind that they practi- 
cally ignore the existence of the Body, in- 
deed, in some cases, actually denying the ex- 
istence of the latter. We believe that there 
is a sane middle-ground in ''metaphysical 
healing," as there is in the material treat- 
ment of disease. In this case, not only does 
Truth lie between the two extremes, but it is 
composed of the blending and assimilation of 
the two opposing ideas and theories. But, 
even if the reader does not fully agree with 
us in our general theories and conclusions, he 
will find within the covers of this book a 
mass of facts which he may use in building 
up a new theory of his own. And, after all, 



14 Mind and Body 

what are theories but the threads upon which 
are strung the heads of facts— if our string 
does not meet with your approval, break it 
and string the beads of fact upon a thread of 
your own. Theories come, and theories go 
—but facts remain. 



'^ 



CHAPTER I 

THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND 

In order to understand the nature of the 
influence of the mind upon the body— the 
effect of mental states upon physical func- 
tions—we must know something of that won- 
derful field of mental activity which in the 
New Psychology is known as **The Subcon- 
scious Mind/' and which by some writers 
has been styled the '^Subjective Mind;" the 
'* Involuntary Mind;'' the ^* Subliminal 
Mind;'' the *' Unconscious Mind," etc., the 
difference in names arising because of the 
comparative newness of the investigation 
and classification. 

■Among the various functions of the Sub- 
conscious Mind, one of the most important is 
that of the charge and control of the invol- 
untary activities and functions of the human 
body through the agency of the sympathetic 
nervous system, the cells, and cell-groups. 
As all students of physiology know, the 

15 



16 Mind and Body 

greater part of the activities of the body are 
involuntary— that is, are independent (or 
partly so) of the control of the conscious 
will. As Dr. Sohofield says: **The uncon- 
scious mind, in addition to the three quali- 
ties which it shares in common with the con- 
scious— t;t>., will, intellect and emotion— has 
undoubtedly another very important one- 
nutrition, or the general maintenance of the 
body/' And as Hudson states: **The sub- 
jective mind has absolute control of the func- 
tions, conditions and sensations of the body.*' 
Notwithstanding the dispute which is still 
raging concerning what the Subconscious 
mind is, the authorities all agree upon the 
fact that, whatever else it may be, it may be 
considered as that phase, aspect, part, or field 
of the mind which has charge and control of 
the greater part of the physical functioning 
of the body. 

Von Hartmann says: *'The explanation 
that unconscious psychical activity itself ap- 
propriately forms and maintains the body 
has not only nothing to be said against it, but 
has all possible analogies from the most dif- 
ferent departments of physical and animal 



Subconscious Mind 17 

life in its favor, and appears to be as scien- 
tifically certain as is possible in the infer- 
ences from effect to cause. ' ' Mandsley says : 
*'Tlie connection of mind and body is such 
that a given state of mind tends to echo itself 
at once in the body.'' Carpenter says: **If 
a psychosis or mental state is produced by a 
neurosis or material nerve state, as pain by 
a prick, so also is a neurosis produced by a 
psychosis. That mental antecedents call 
forth physical consequents is just as certain 
as that physical antecedents call forth men- 
tal consequents.*' Tuke says: **Mind, 
through sensory, motor, vaso-motor and 
trophic nerves, causes changes in sensation, 
muscular contraction, nutrition and secre- 
tion. ... If the brain is an outgrowth 
from a body corpuscle and is in immediate 
relation with the structures and tissues that 
preceded it, then, though these continue to 
have their own action, the brain must be ex- 
pected to act upon the muscular tissue, the 
organic functions and upon the nervous sys- 
tem itself." 

Von Hartmann also says: **In willing any 
conscious act, the unconscious will is evoked 



18 



Mind and Body 



to institute means to bring about the effect. 
Thus, if I will a stronger salivary secretion, 
the conscious willing of this effect excites the 
unconscious will to institute the necessary- 
means. Mothers are said to be able to pro- 
vide through the will a more copious secre- 
tion, if the sight of the child arouses in them 
the will to suckle. There are people who per- 
spire voluntarily. I now possess the power 
of instantaneously reducing the severest hic- 
coughs to silence by my own will, while it 
was formerly a source of great inconvenience 
to me. . . . An irritation to cough, which 
has no mechanical cause, may be permanently 
suppressed by the will. I believe we might 
possess a far greater voluntary power over 
our bodily functions if we were only accus- 
tomed from childhood to institute experi- 
ments and to practice ourselves therein. 
. . . We have arrived at the conclusion 
that every action of the mind on the body, 
without exception, is only possible by means 
of an unconscious will; that such an uncon- 
scious will can be called forth partly by 
means of a conscious will, partly also through 
the conscious idea of the effect, without con- 



Subconscious Mind 19 

scious will, and even in opposition to tKe 
conscious will.'' 

Henry \Yood says of the Subconscious 
Mind : * * It acts automatically upon the phys- 
ical organism. It cognizes external facts, 
conditions, limitations, and even contagions, 
quite independent of its active counterpart. 
One may, therefore, *take' a disease and be 
unaware of any exposure. The subconscious- 
ness has been unwittingly trained to fear, 
and accept it; and it is this quality, rather 
than the mere inert matter of the body, that 
succumbs. Matter is never the actor, but is 
always acted upon. This silent, mental part- 
ner, in operation, seems to be a living, think- 
ing personality, conducting affairs on its 
own account. It is a compound of almost un- 
imaginable variety, including wisdom and 
foolishness, logic and nonsense, and yet hav- 
ing a working unitary economy. It is a hid- 
den force to be dealt with and educated, for 
it is often found insubordinate and unruly. 
It refuses co-operation with its lesser but 
more active and wiser counterpart. It is 
very 'set' in its views, and only changes its 
qualities and opinions by slow degrees. But, 







20 Mind and Body 

like a pair of horses, not until these two men- 
tal factors can be trained together can there 
be harmony and efficiency/' 

In order to understand the important part 
played in the physical economy by the Sub- 
conscious Mind, it is only necessary to un- 
derstand the various processes of the human 
system which are out of the ordinary field 
of the voluntary or conscious mind. We then 
realize that the entire process of nutrition, 
including digestion, assimilation, etc., the 
processes of elimination, the processes of 
circulation, the processes of growth, in fact 
the entire processes manifested in the work 
of the cells, cell-groups, ganglia, physical or- 
gans, etc., are in charge of and controlled by 
the Subconscious Mind. Our food is digested 
and transformed into the nourishing sub- 
stances of the blood; then carried through 
the arteries to all parts of the body, where 
it is absorbed by the cells and used to replace 
the worn-out material, the latter then being 
carried back through the veins to the lungs 
where the waste matter is burned up, and the 
balance again sent on its journey through the 
arteries re-charged with the life-giving oxy- 



Subconscious Mind 21 

gen. All of these processes, and many others 
of almost equal importance, are out of the 
field of the conscious or voluntary mind, and 
are governed by the Subconscious Mind. As 
we shall see when we consider the Sympa- 
thetic Nervous System, the greater part of 
the body is dominated by the Subconscious 
Mind, and that the welfare of the major 
physical functions depends entirely, or al- 
most so, upon this great area or field of the 
mind. 

The best authorities now generally agree 
that there is no part of the body which may 
be considered as devoid of mind. The Sub- 
conscious Mind is not confined to the brain, 
or even the greater plexuses of the nervous 
system, but extends to all parts of the body, 
to every nerve, muscle, and even to every 
cell and cell-group of the body. The func- 
tions and processes of the body are no longer 
considered as purely mechanical, or chemi- 
cal, but are now seen to be the result of men- 
tal action of some kind or degree. There- 
fore, in considering the Subconscious Mind, 
one must not thinE of it as resident in the 
brain alone, but rather as being distributed 



J 



22 Mind and Body 

over the entire physical body. There is 
mind in every cell, every organ, every muscle, 
every nerve— in every part of tlie body. 

The importance of the above statements 
regarding the power and importance of the 
Subconscious Mind may be realized when 
one remembers the dictum of the New Psy- 
chology, to wit: The Subconscious Mind is 
amenable to Suggestion. When it is realized 
that this great controller of the physical or- 
ganism is so constituted that it accepts as 
truth the suggestions from the conscious 
mind of its owner, as well as those emanating 
from the conscious minds of other people, it 
may be [understood why Faith, Belief, and 
Expectant Attention manifest such marked 
effects upon the physical body and the gen- 
eral health, for good or for evil, as indicated 
in the preceding chapters. All of the many 
instances and examples recited in the pre- 
ceding chapters may be understood when it 
is realized that the Subconscious Mind, which 
is in control of the physical functions and 
vital processes, will accept the suggestions 
from the conscious mind of its owner, and 
also suggestions from outside s^hich the con- 



Subconscious Mind 23 

scious mind of its owner allows to pass down 
to it. If, as Henry Wood lias said in the 
paragraph previously quoted, it *'acts auto- 
matically upon the physical organism,'' and 
*^ seems to be a living, thinking personality, 
conducting affairs on its own account," and 
at the same time, accepts and ^ takes on' sug- 
gested conditions, it may be readily under- 
stood how the wonderful and almost incred- 
ible statements of the authorities mentioned 
in the preceding chapters have had real and 
substantial basis in truth. 

'This understanding of the part played by 
the Subjective Mind in controlling and affect- 
ing physical conditions and activities, to- 
gether with its suggestible qualities and na- 
ture, gives us a key to the whole question of 
the ''Why?'' of Mental Healing. Suggestion 
is the connecting link between Mind and 
Body, and an understanding of its laws and 
principles enables one to see the moving 
cause of the strange phenomena of the Faith 
Cures, under whatever name they may pass, 
and under whatever guise they may present 
themselves. ''Suggestion" is the explana- 
tion offered by the New Psychology for the 



24 Mind and Body 

almost miraculous phenomena wMeh other 
schools seek to explain upon some hypothe- 
sis based either upon religious beliefs, or 
upon some metaphysical or philosophical doc- 
trine. The New Psychology holds that it is 
not necessary to go outside of the realms of 
psychology and physiology in studying Men- 
tal Healing or Psycho-Therapy ; and that the 
theories of the semi-religious and metaphys- 
ical cults are merely strange guises or masks 
which serve to conceal the real operative 
principle of cure. 

, The following quotation from Dr. Scho- 
field will serve to call the attention to the 
important part played by the Subconscious 
Mind in the physical activities, a fact which 
is not generally recognized: ^*It has often 
been a mystery how the body thrives so well 
with so little oversight or care on the part of 
its owner. No machine could be constructed, 
nor could any combination of solids or liquids 
in organic compounds, regulate, control, 
counteract, help, hinder or arrange for the 
continual succession of differing events, 
foods, surroundings and conditions which are 
constantly affecting the body. And yet, in 



Subconscious Mind 25 

the midst of this ever-changing and varying 
succession of influences, the body holds on its 
course of growth, health, nutrition and self- 
maintenance with the most marvelous con- 
stancy. We perceive, of course, clearly, that 
the best of qualities— regulation, control, 
etc., etc.— are all mental qualities, and at the 
same time we are equally clear that by no 
self-examination can we say we consciously 
exercise any of these mental powers over the 
organic processes of our bodies. One would 
think, then, that the conclusion is sufficiently 
simple and obvious— that they must be used 
unconsciously ; in other words, it is, and can 
be nothing else than unconscious mental pow- 
ers that control, guide and govern the func- 
tions and organs of the body. 

**Our ordinary text-books on physiology 
give but little idea of what I may call the in- 
telligence that presides over the various sys- 
tems of the body, showing itself in the bones, 
as we have seen, in distributing the available 
but insufficient amount of lime salts in dis- 
ease; not equally, but for the protection of 
the most vital parts, leaving those of lesser 
value disproportionally deficient. In the 



26 Mind and Body 

muscular system nearly all contractions are 
involuntary. Even in the voluntary (so- 
called) muscles, tlie most we can do is to will 
results. We do not will the contractions that 
carry out these results. Muscles, striped 
and unstriped, are ceaselessly acting with- 
out the slightest consciousness in maintain- 
ing the balance of the body, the expression 
of the face, the general attributes correspond- 
ing to mental states, the carrying on of di- 
gestion and other processes with a pur- 
posiveness, and adaptation of means to new 
• ends and new conditions, ceaselessly arising, 
that are beyond all material mechanism. 
Consider, for instance, the marvelous in- 
crease of smooth muscle in the uterus at 
term, and also its no les^s marvelous subse- 
quent involution; observe, too, the compen- 
sating muscular increase of a damaged heart 
until the balance is restored and the neces- 
sity for it ceases, as does growth at a fixed 
period; consider in detail the repair of a 
broken bone. These actions are not mere 
properties of matter ; they demand, and are 
the result of, a controlling mind. 
*^The circulation does not go round as 



Subconscious Mind 27 

most text-books would lead us to believe, as 
the result merely of the action of a system 
of elastic tubes, connected with a self-acting 
force-pump. It is such views as these that 
degrade physiology- and obscure the marvels 
of the body. The circulation never flows for 
two minutes in the same manner. In an in- 
stant, miles of capillaries are closed or 
opened up, according to the ever-varying 
body needs, of which, consciously, we are en- 
tirely unaware. The blood supply of each 
organ is not mechanical, but is carefully 
regulated from minute to minute in health, 
exactly according to its needs and activities, 
and when this ever fails, we at once recog- 
nize it as disease, and call it congestion and 
so forth. The very heart-beat itself is never 
constant, but varies pro rata with the amount 
of exercise, activity of vital functions, of 
conditions of temperature, etc., and even of 
emotions and other direct mental feelings. 
The whole reproductive system is obviously 
under the sway and guidance of more than 
blind material forces. In short, when thor- 
oughly analyzed, the action and regulation of 



28 Mind and Body 

no system of the body can be satisfactorily 
explained, without postulating an uncon- 
scious mental element, which does, if allowed, 
satisfactorily explain all the phenomefna/' 



k 



CHAPTER II 

THE SYMPATHETIC SYSTEM 

The average person has a general under- 
standing of what is meant by ^^the nervous 
system/' but inquiry will show that by this 
term he usually includes only that part of 
the nervous system which is known as the 
* ^ cerebro-spinal system,'* or the system of 
nerves consisting of the brain and spinal 
cord, and the nerv^es extending therefrom 
throughout the body, the offices of which are 
to control the voluntary movements of the 
body. The average person is almost entirely 
ignorant of the existence of the Great Sym- 
pathetic System which controls the involun- 
tary movements and processes, such as the 
processes and functions of nutrition, secre- 
tion, reproduction, excretion, the vaso-motor 
action, etc. In physiology, the term ** sym- 
pathetic" is used in the sense of: ** Recipro- 
cal action of the different parts of the body 
on each other ; an affection of one part of the 

29 



30 Mind and Body 

body in consequence of something taking 
place in another. Thus when there is a local 
injury, the whole frame after a time suffers 
with it. A wound anywhere will tend to 
create feverishness everywhere; derange- 
ment of the stomach will tend to produce 
headache, liver complaint to produce pain in 
the shoulder, etc.'' 

An old authority thus describes the Sym- 
pathetic Nerves: *^A system of nerves, run- 
ning from the base of the skull to the coccyx, 
along both sides of the body, and consisting 
of a series of ganglia along the spinal col- 
umn by the side of the vertebraB. With this 
trunk of the sympathetic there are communi- 
cating branches which connect the ganglia, 
or the intermediate cord, with all the spinal 
and several of the cranial nerves proceeding 
to primary branches on the neighboring or- 
gans or other ganglia, and finally numerous 
flexures of nerves running to the viscera. 
Various fibers from the sjnupathetic commu- 
nicate with those of the cerebro-spinal sys- 
tem. The term ^sympathetic' has been ap- 
plied on the supposition that it is the agent 
in producing sympathy between different 



Sympathetic System 31 

parts of the body. It more certainly affects 
the secretions. ' ' In the New Psychology the 
S}Tnpathetic Nervous System is recognized 
as that directly under the control of the Sub- 
conscious Mind. 

The Cerebro-Spinal Nervous System is 
concerned with the activities arising from the 
conscious activities of the mind, including 
those of the ^ve senses. It controls the 
muscles by which we speak, walk, move our 
limbs, and pursue the ordinary activities of 
outer life. But, while these are very impor- 
tant to the individual, there is another set of 
activities— inner activities— which are none 
the less important. The Sympathetic Sys- 
tem controls the involuntary muscles by 
means of which the heart throbs, the arteries 
pulsate, the air is conveyed to the lungs, the 
blood moves to and from the heart, the va- 
rious glands and tubes of the body operate, 
and the entire work of nutrition, repair, and 
body-building is performed. While the Cere- 
bro-Spinal System, and the Conscious Mind 
are able to rest a considerable portion of the 
twenty-four hours of the day, the Sympa- 
thetic System and the Subconscious Mind 



32 Mind and Body 

must needs work every minute of the twenty- 
four hours, without rest or vacation, during 
the life of their owner. 

Dr. E. H. Pratt, in his valuable ^^ Series of 
Impersonations'' published in the medical 
magazines several years ago, and since re- 
produced in book form, makes ^ ^ The Sympa- 
thetic Man" speak as follows: ^^The entire 
body can do nothing without me, and my oc- 
cupation of supplying the inspiration for our 
entire family is so constant and engaging 
that I am compelled to attend strictly to 
business night and day from one end of life 
to the other, and have no time whatever for 
observation, education, or amusement outside 
of my daily tasks. As a rule, I perform my 
work so noiselessly that the rest of the family 
are scarcely conscious of my existence, for 
when I am well everything works all right, 
each organ plays its part as usual, and the 
entire machinery of life is operated noise- 
lessly and without friction. When I am not 
well, however, and am not quite equal to the 
demands made upon me, I have two ways of 
making it known to the family. One is by 
appealing to self-consciousness through the 



Sympathetic System 33 

assistance of my cerebro-spinal brother, with 
whom I am closely associated, thereby caus- 
ing some disturbance of sensation or locomo- 
tion (the most frequent disturbance in this 
direction being the instituting of some form 
of pain) ; or I sometimes take it into my head 
to say nothing to my cerebro-spinal brother 
about my affairs, but simply shirk my duties, 
and my inefficiency becomes manifest only 
when some one or all of the organs suffer 
from some function poorly performed.'' 

The nerve-centres of the Cerebro-Spinal 
System are grouped closely together, while 
those of the Sympathetic System, are scat- 
tered about the body, each organ having its 
appropriate centre or tiny-brain. The 
heart, the liver, the kidneys, the spleen, the 
brain, the intestinal tract, the bladder, the 
generative organs, have each its own particu- 
lar nerve-centre of the Sympathetic System 
—each its tiny-brain— each, however, con- 
nected with all the others. And more than 
this— in addition to the tinv-brains in each of 
the important vital organs, there are found 
scattered through the trunk a number of 
ganglia, or knots of gray nervous matter, ar- 



I 



34 Mind and Body 

ranged longitudinally in two lines extending 
from just in front of the spinal column from 
the base of the skull to the end of the spinal 
column, each vertebra having its appropriate 
ganglia. In some cases several of these gan- 
glia are grouped together, the number rang- 
ing from two to three. Each ganglion is a 
distinct centre giving off branches in four 
directions. 

There is also one place in which are 
grouped together several very large ganglia, 
forming what is known as the Solar Plexus, 
or Abdominal Brain, which is situated at the 
upper part of the abdomen, behind the stom- 
ach and in front of the aorta and the pillars 
of the diaphragm, and from which issue 
nerves extending in all directions. By some 
authorities the Solar Plexus is regarded as 
the great centre of the Sympathetic System, 
and the main seat of the Subconscious Mind. 

'Dr. Byron Eobinson bestowed upon this 

• 

centre the name *^The Abdominal Brain, '^ 
saying of the use of the term: ''I mean to 
convey the idea that it is endowed with the 
high powers and phenomena of a great ner- 



Sympathetic System 35 

vous centre; that it can organize, multiply, 
and diminish forces/* 

One of the most interesting and significant 
features of the ganglia is that of their con- 
nection with the nerve centres of the Cere- 
bro- Spinal System, indicating the reciprocal 
action existing between the two great ner- 
vous systems. From each one of the ganglia 
in the two great lines forming the system, is- 
sues a tiny filament which connects with the 
spinal cord ; and at the same time it receives 
from the spinal cord a tiny filament in re- 
turn, thus establishing a double line of com- 
munication. It is held by some authorities 
that one of these filaments acts as a sending 
wire, and the other as a receiving wire be- 
tween the two systems. Be this as it may, 
the inter-communication between the two sys- 
tems is clearly indicated. 

It must be remembered that the involun- 
tary muscles which move the heart, as well 
as the tiny muscles which form the middle- 
coat of the arteries and the veins, are con- 
trolled by the Sympathetic System, and thus 
the important work of the circulation, which 
goes on day and night, year in and year out, 



36 Mind and Body 

during life, is directly under tlie charge of 
the Sympathetic System and the Subcon- 
scious Mind. Also, the involuntary muscles 
which are concerned with the activities of the 
liver, the kidneys and the spleen, are under 
the same direct control. 

Dr. E. H. Pratt, in the *^ Series of Imper- 
sonations" above referred to makes the 
''Subconscious Man" tell the following won- 
derful truth, which we suggest each reader 
read carefully and ^x in his mind: ''My 
brother the Sympathetic Man has told you 
that I am the animating spirit of his con- 
struction ; and as he is the great body builder, 
having furnished the emotions under which 
our entire family has been put into form, 
you can understand by what right I pose be- 
fore you as the human form of forms. All 
the rest of the family are because I am. 
Even my Conscious brother, who claims su- 
periority to his fellow-shapes because he 
bosses them around a little and makes use 
of them, is a subject of my own creation. 
. I am the life of the Sympathetic 
Man, whose existence as a human shape has 
already sufficiently been well established, and 



Sympathetic System 37 

as there is no part of him whicli is not alive, 
the conclusion is very evident that his shape 
and mine are identical. There is no part of 
the sympathetic system which is not ani- 
mated by my oivn principle of vitality. In- 
deed, he is but a cup of life, though I can 
assure you that his cup is full, and he would 
not be good for much if it was not. So, if 
you are able to conceive the shape of the 
Sympathetic Man, you can regard this form 
as identical with my own. This is really a 
very modest claim on my part, and does not 
quite do justice to myself, for in reality the 
Sympathetic Man does not contain all there 
is of me by any means, for I am not only in 
him, but all around him, and he is not by any 
means capable of containing my full self. ' ' 

When it is seen that the vital activities of 
the physical body are ruled, governed and 
controlled by the Sympathetic System, ani- 
mated by the Subconscious Mind, and that the 
latter is amenable to Suggestion from the 
Conscious Mind and from outside, we may 
begin to get a glimmer of the great light 
which illuminates the principle of Mental 
Healing. If the Subconscious Mind, the 



38 Mind and Body 

builder, is influenced by Suggestion to neg- 
lect Ms work, or to build wrongly, it is like- 
wise possible for bim to beed proper Sugges- 
tion and to repair bis mistakes and to rebuild 
properly. Tbis principle being grasped, tbe 
rest will seem to be merely an understand- 
ing of tbe best metbods of reacbing tbe Sub- 
conscious Mind by Suggestion or Auto-Sug- 
gestion. We may now begin to understand 
tbe trutb of tbe old axiom : * * As a man tbink- 
etb in bis beart, so is be"— pbysically. And 
-as Tbougbt is based largely upon Belief, can 
we not see tbe dynamic force of Faitb? Is 
tbere not a real psycbological basis for so- 
called ^'miracles?'' Is not tbe wonder-work- 
ing of tbe cults now understandable? 



CHAPTER III 



THE CELL-MINDS 



Modern science has demonstrated that the 
human body is composed of a multitude of 
microscopic cells, that is, that the muscles, 
nerves, tissues, blood, bones, hair and nails 
are made up of minute cells, and groups of 
cells. Virchow says : ^ ^ It is of the cells that 
the tissues are built up and the nerves 
formed. There is no part of the human 
body in which the cell is not seen. All these 
cells are neuclated— have in them a central 
life-spot like the yolk of an egg. Each cell 
is born, reproduces itself, dies and is ab- 
sorbed. The maintenance of life and health 
depends upon the constant regeneration of 
the cells. When man can control the life and 
death of the cell he becomes the creator.'* 
Medical science now practically asserts that 
disease of the body is really disease of the 
cells of which the body is composed, and that 
all healing of the body must consist of the 

3a 



40 Mind and Body 

healing of the cells— that is, of restoring the 
cells to normal activity and functioning. 

The following quotation from Hudson, fol- 
lowing Stephens, is interesting: '^ An aggre- 
gation of cells became a confederation, with 
its differentiation of cell functions and still 
further division of labor. As a result of a 
long process of such differentiation, the or- 
ganisms of the larger animals and of man 
came to be composed, as we find them, of 
thirty or more different species of cells. For 
example, we have the muscle cells, whose vital 
Energies are devoted to the office of contrac- 
tion, or vigorous shortening of length; con- 
nective-tissue cells, whose office is mainly to 
produce and conserve a tough fibre for bind- 
ing together and covering in the organism; 
bone cells, whose life work is to select and 
collocate salts of lime for the organic frame- 
work, levers and joints; hair, nail, horn and 
feather cells, which work in silicates for the 
protection, defense, and ornamentation of 
the organism; gland cells, whose motif in 
living has come to be the abstraction from 
the blood of substances which are recom- 
bined to produce juices needed to aid the 



The Cell-Minds 41 

various processes or steps of digestion; 
blood cells, wliicli have assumed the labor- 
ious function of general carriers, scavengers, 
and repairers of the organism ; eye, ear, nasal 
and palate cells, which have become the spe- 
cial artificers of complicated apparatus for 
transmitting light, sound, odors, and flavors 
to the highly sentient brain cells; pulmo- 
nary cells, which elaborate a tissue for the in- 
troduction of oxygen and the elimination of 
carbon dioxide and other waste products; 
hepatic (liver) cells, which have, in response 
to the needs of the organism, descended to 
the menial office of living on the waste prod- 
ucts and converting them into chemical re- 
agents to facilitate digestion— these and 
numerous other species of cells; and lastly, 
most important and of greatest interest, 
brain and nerve cells." 

The various cells of the body are constant- 
ly busy, each performing its particular task, 
either singly or in connection with other cells 
in the cell-group. Like a great arm, the cells 
are divided into classes, some being engaged 
in the active daily work, while others are 
held back on the reserve line. Some are en- 



42 Mind and Body 

gaged in building up the tissues, muscles and 
bones, while others are busy manufacturing 
the juices, secretions, fluids and chemical 
compounds required in the great laboratory 
of the body. Some remain at their posts, 
stationary during their entire life, while 
others remain stationary only until the call 
comes for their services, while a third class 
are in constant motion from place to place 
either following regular routes or else trav- 
elling under a roving conmaission. Some of 
the moving cells act as carriers of material— 
the hod-carriers of the body, while others 
move about doing special repair work such 
as the healing of wounds, etc., while others 
still are the scavengers and street cleaners of 
system, and others form the cell army and 
cell police force. The body has been com- 
pared to a vast communistic or socialistic 
colony, each member of which cheerfully de- 
votes his life-work, and often his life itself, 
to the common good. The brain cells are of 
course the most highly organized, and the 
most highly differentiated of the cells. The 
nerve cells constitute a living telegraph sys- 
tem over which is carried the messages from 



The Cell-Minds 43 

the several parts of the body, each cell being 
in close contact with its neighbor on each 
side— the nerve cells practically clasp hands 
and form a living chain of commnnication. 

The blood cells are important members of 
the cell-community, and are exceedingly nu- 
merous, there being over 75,000,000,000 of the 
red-blood cells alone. These red-blood cells 
move in the blood currents, carrying through 
the arteries each its little load of oxygen 
which it transports to the distant tissues that 
they may be invigorated and vitalized anew ; 
and, returning, carrying through the veins 
the debris and waste products of the system 
to the great crematory of the lungs where the 
waste is burnt and thrown off from the body. 
Like the ships that sail the sea, each cell 
carries its outgoing cargo, and returns with 
another one. Some of these cells perform 
the office of special repairers, forcing their 
way through the walls of the blood-vessels 
and penetrating the tissues in order to per- 
form their special tasks. There are several 
other kinds of cells in the blood besides the 
carriers just mentioned. There are the won- 
derful soldier and police cells which main- 



44 Mind and Body 

tain order and fight battles when n'e<jessary. 
The police cells are on the constant lookout 
for germs, bacteria and other microscopic 
disturbers of the peace of the body. When 
these tiny policemen discover vagrant germs, 
. or criminal bacteria, they rush upon the in- 
truder and tying him up in a mesh, proceed 
to devour him. If the intruder be too large 
or vigorous, a call for assistance is sent out, 
and the reserve police rush to the assistance 
of their brothers and overpower the dis- 
*turber of the peace. Sometimes when the 
vagrants are too numerous, the policemen 
throw them out from the body, by means of 
pimples, boils and similar eruptions. In case 
of infectious diseases, an army corps is or- 
dered out in full strength and a royal fight is 
waged between the invading army and the 
defenders of home and country. 

Some of the blood cells take a part in the 
process of extracting from the food its nour- 
ishing particles, and then carrying the same 
through the blood-channels to all parts of the 
body, where it is used to feed and nourish the 
stationary cells there located. These cells 
manufacture the chemical juices of the body, 



The Cell-Minds 45 

such as bile, gastric juice, pancreatic juices, 
milk, etc., in short the entire physical process 
is carried on by these indefatigable tiny cells. 
The body of each of us is simply a great com- 
munity of cells of various kinds. The cells 
are born by the form of reproduction com- 
mon to all cells, that of sub-division. Each 
cell grows until a certain size is reached, 
when it assumes a ^'dumb-belP' shape, with 
a tiny waist line, which waist is afterward 
dissolved and the two cells move away from 
each other. In this way, and this way alone, 
does the body grow, the material required for 
the enlargement of the cell being supplied 
from the food and nourishment partaken by 
the individual. Cells die after having per- 
formed their life-work, and their corpses are 
carried through the veins by the carrier cells, 
and cast into the crematory of the lungs 
where they are consumed. 

The body is constantly undergoing a proc- 
ess of change and regeneration. Old cells 
are being cast off every second, and new cells 
are taking their places. Our muscles, tis- 
sues, hair, nails, nerves, brain substance, and 
even our bones are constantly being made 



46 Mind and Body 

over and rebuilt. Our bodies to-day do not 
contain a single particle of the material 
which composed them a few years back. A 
few weeks suffices to replace our entire skin, 
and a few months to replace other parts of 
the body. If a sufficiently large microscope 
could be placed over our bodies, we would 
see each part of it as active as a hive of bees, 
each cell being in action and motion, and the 
entire domestic work of the human hive being 
performed according to law and order. Ver- 
ily, ''we are fearfully and wonderfully 
made. ' ' 

. 'A number of the best authorities have 
used the illustration of the process of the 
cells in healing an ordinary wound, in order 
to show the activity and ''mind" of the tiny 
cells. We have become so accustomed to 
the natural healing of a wound, scratch or 
broken skin, that we have grown to regard 
it as an almost mechanical process. But, 
science shows us that there is manifested in 
the healing process a marvellous degree of 
life and mind in the cells.. Let us consider 
the process of healing an ordinary wound, 
that we may see the cells at work. Let us 



The Cell-Minds 47 

imagine that we are gazing at the wounded 
part through a marvellously strong micro- 
scope which enables us to see every cell at 
work. If such a glass were provided we 
should witness a scene similar to that now 
to be described. 

In the first place, through our glass, we 
should see the gaping wound enlarged to gi- 
gantic proportions. We should see the torn 
skin, tissues, lymphatic and blood vessels, 
glands, muscles and nerves. We would see 
the blood pouring forth washing away the 
dirt and foreign substances that have entered 
the wound. We would then see the messages 
calling for help flashing over the living tele- 
graph wires of the nerves, each nerve-cell 
rapidly passing the word to its neighbor un- 
til the great sympathetic centres received the 
call and sounded the alarm and sent out a 
** hurry up" call to the cells needed for the 
repair work. In the meantime the cells of 
the blood, coming in contact with the out- 
side air have begun to coagulate into a sticky 
substance, which is the beginning of the scab, 
the purpose being to close the wound and to 
hold the severed parts together. The repair 



48 Mind and Body 

cells Having now arrived at the scene of the 
accident begin to mend the break. The tis- 
sue, nerve, and muscle cells, on each side of 
the wound begin to multiply rapidly, receiv- 
ing their nourishment from the blood cells, 
and quickly a cell bridge is built up until the 
two severed edges of the wound are reunited. 
This bridging is no haphazard process, for 
the presence of directing law and order is 
apparent. The newly-born cells of the blood- 
vessels unite with their brothers on the other 
side, evenly and in an orderly manner, new 
tubular channels being formed skillfully. 
The cells of the connective tissues likewise 
grow toward each other, and unite in the 
same orderly manner. The nerve-cells re- 
pair their broken lines, just as do a gang of 
linemen repair the interrupted telegraph sys- 
tem. The muscles are united in the same 
way. But mark you this, there is no mis- 
take in this connecting process— muscle does 
not connect with nerve, nor blood-vessel with 
connective tissue. Finally, the inner repairs 
and connections having been completed, the 
scab disappears and the cells of the outer 
skin rebuild the outer covering, and the 



The Cell-Minds 49 

wound is healed. This process may occupy 
a few hours, or many days, depending upon 
the character of the wound, but the process 
is the same in all cases. The surgeon merely 
disinfects and cleans the wound, and placing 
the parts together allows the cells to per- 
form their healing work, for no other power 
can perform the task. The knitting together 
of a broken bone proceeds along the same 
lines— the surgeon places the parts in jux- 
taposition, binds the limb together to pre- 
vent slipping, and the cells do the rest. 

When the body is well nourished, the gen- 
eral system well toned up, and the mind 
cheerful and active, the repair work proceeds 
rapidly. But when the physical system is 
run down, the body poorly nourished, and the 
mind depressed and full of fear, the work is 
retarded and interfered with. It is this heal- 
ing power inherent in the cells that physi- 
cians speak of as the vis vita or vis medi- 
catrix naturae j or *^the healing power of na- 
ture." Of it Dr. Patton says: '^By the 
term 'efforts of nature' we mean a certain 
curative or restorative principle, or vis 
vita, implanted in every living or organized 



50 Mind and Body 

body, constantly operative for its repair, 
preservation and health. This instinctive en- 
deavor to repair the human organism is sig- 
nally shown in the event of a severed or lost 
part, as a finger, for instance ; for nature un- 
aided will repair and fashion a stump equal 
to one from the hands of an eminent surgeon. 
. . Nature, unaided, may be equally 
potent in ordinary illness. Many individ- 
uals, even when severely ill, either from mo- 
Jives of economy, prejudice, or skepticism, 
remain at rest in bed, under favorable hy- 
giene, regimen, etc., and speedily get well 
without a physician or medicine." 

Dr. Schofield says: **The vis medicatrix 
naturae is a very potent factor in the amelio- 
ration of disease, if it only be allowed fair 
play. An exercise of faith, as a rule, sus- 
pends the operation of adverse influences, 
and appeals strongly through the conscious- 
ness, to the inner and underlying faculty of 
vital force (L e., unconscious niind)." Dr. 
Bruce says: **We are compelled to acknowl- 
edge a power of natural recovery inherent 
in the body— a similar statement has been 
made by writers on the principle of medicine 



i 



The Cell-Minds 51 

in all ages. . . . The body does possess 
a means and mechanism for modifying or 
neutralizing influences which it cannot di- 
rectly overcome.'' Oliver Wendell Holmes 
says: ** Whatever other theories we hold 
we must recognize the ^vis medicatrix nor 
turae* in some shape or other." Bruce says: 
*'A natural power of the prevention and re- 
pair of disorders and disease has as real and 
as active an existence within us, as have the 
ordinary functions of the organs themselves. ' * 
Hippocrates said: *^ Nature is the physidan 
of diseases." And Ambrose Pare wrote on 
the walls of the great medical school, the 
Ecole de Medicine of Paris, thes« words: '^Je 
le ponsez et Dieu le guarit/' which trans- 
lated is: **I dressed the wound, and God 
healed it." 

It is of course true that the life and mind 
in the cells is derived from the Subconscious l 
Mind, in fact the cells themselves may be I 
said to embody the Subconscious Mind, just 1 
as the cells of the brain emhody the Con- 
scious Mind. In every cell there is to be 
found intelligence in a degree required for 
the successful performance of the particular 



52 Mind and Body 

task of that cell. Hudson says: ''All or- 
ganic tissue is made up of microscopic cells, 
each one of which is a living, intelligent en- 
tityJ' And, again, ''The subordinate intel- 
ligences are the cells of which the whole 
body is composed, each of which is an intel- 
ligent entity, endowed with powers comment 
surate with its functions.' ' In short, the 
cells of the body are living organs for the 
expression and manifestation of the Subcon- 
Sfious Mind. There is not a single cell, 
group, or part of the party which is devoid 
of mind. Mind is imminent in the entire 
body, and in its every part, down to the 
smallest cell. 

The following quotation from Dr. Thom- 
son J. Hudson's "Mental Medicine" clearly 
expresses a truth conceded by modern 
science. Dr. Hudson says: 

"It follows a priori, that every cell in the 
body is endowed with intelligence; and this 
is precisely what all biological science tells 
lis is true. Beginning with the lowest form 
of animal life, the humblest cytode, every liv- 
ing cell is endowed with a wonderful intelli- 
gence. There is, in fact, no line to be drawn 



The Cell-Minds 53 

between life and mind; that is to say, every 
living organism is a mind organism, from 
the monera, crawling upon the hed of the 
ocean, to the most highly differentiated cell 
in the cerebral cortex of man. Volumes 
have been written to demonstrate that * psy- 
chological phenomena begin among the very 
lowest class of beings ; they are met with in 
every form of life, from the simplest cellule 
to the most complicated organism. It is they 
that are the essential phenomena of life, in- 
herent in all protoplasm.' (Binet.) It is, 
in fact, an axiom of science that the lowest 
unicellular organism is endowed with the po- 
tentialities of manhood. I have remarked 
that each living cell is endowed with a won- 
derful intelligence. This is emphatically 
true, whether it is a unicellular organism or 
a constituent element of a multicellular or- 
ganism. Its wonderful character consists not 
so much in the amount of intelligence pos- 
sessed by each individual cell, as it does in 
the quality of that intelligence. That is to 
say, each cell is endowed with an instinctive, 
or intuitive, knowledge of all that is essential 
to the preservation of its own life, the con- 



54 Mind and Body 

servation of its energies, and the perpetua- 
tion of its species. In other words, it is en- 
dowed with an intuitive knowledge of the 
laws of its own being, which knowledge is 
proportioned to its stage of development and 
adapted to its environment." 

The cell has the intelligence sufficient to en- 
able it to seek nourishment, and to move 
from one place to another in search for food 
or for other purposes. It holds to its food 
when secured, and envelops it until it is ab- 
sorbed and digested. It exercises the power 
of choice, accepting and selecting one por- 
tion of food in preference to another. It 
has the power of discriminating between 
nourishing food and the reverse. The au- 
thorities show that it has a rudimentary 
memory, and avoids the repetition of an un- 
pleasant or painful experience, and also 
returns to the locality in which it has previ- 
ously secured food. Biological experiments 
have shown that the cells are capable of ex- 
periencing surprise, pleasure and fear, and 
that they experience different degrees of feel- 
ing, and react accordingly in response to 
stimuli. Verworn, a biologist, even goes so 



The Cell-Minds 55 

far as to assert that they habitually adapt 
tneans to ends, near and remote. In his re- 
markable work on cell-life, **The Psychic 
Life of Micro-organisms, ' * Binet says : ' * We 
shall not regard it as strange, perhaps, to 
find so complete a psychology in the history 
of the lower organisms, when we call to mind 
that, agreeably to the ideas of evolution now 
accepted, a higher animal is nothing more 
than a colony of protozoans. Every one of 
the cells composing such an animal has re- 
tained its primitive properties, giving them 
a higher degree of perfection by division of 
labor and by selection. The epithelial cells 
that secrete the nails and hair are organisms 
perfected with reference to the secretion of 
protective parts. Similarly, the cells of the 
brain are organisms that have been perfected 
with reference to psychical attributes." 

Dr. Schofield says: ^'That life involves 
mind has, of course, like all else, been vigor- 
ously disputed and equally vigorously af- 
firmed. ^Life,' says Prof. Bascom, *is not 
force ; it is combining power. It is the prod- 
uct and presence of mind.' . . . The 
extent to which the word mind may be em- 



56 Mind and Body 

ployed as tlie inherent cause of purposive 
movements in organisms is a very difficult 
question to solve. There can be no doubt that 
the actual agents in such movements are the 
natural forces, but behind these the directing 
and starting power seems to be psychic. 
. There being an indwelling power, 
not only for purposive action in each cell, 
but for endless combinations of cell activi- 
ties for common ends not at all connected 
with the mere nutrition of the single cell, but 
for the good of the completed organism." Dr. 
E. Dunn says: '^From the first movement 
when the primordial cell-germ of a human 
organism comes into being, the entire indi- 
vidual is present, fitted for human destiny. 
From the same moment, matter, life and 
mind are never for an instant separated, 
their union constituting the essential work 
of our present existence." Carpenter says: 
'^The convertibility of physical forces and 
correlation of these with the vital and the 
intricacy of that nexus between mental and 
bodily activity which cannot be analyzed, all 
lead upwards towards one and the same con- 
clusion— ^/^e source ol all power is mind. 



The Cell-Minds 57 

And that physical conclusion is the apex 
of the pyramid which has its foundation in 
the primitive instincts of humanity.*' 

Having seen the evidences of life and mind 
in the single cell, let us now proceed to a 
consideration of the intelligence or mind in- 
herent and manifest in the groups of cells, 
large and small, including the largest groups 
which compose the several organs of the 
body. This line of investigation will lead us 
to a fuller understanding of the influence of 
the mental states upon the health or disease 
of the organs and parts. It will be seen that 
Mental Healing has a sound biological as 
well as a psychological basis of truth, and 
that it is not necessary to invade the fields of 
metaphysics or theology in order to find an 
explanation of the effect of mind over body. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE MENTAL BASIS OF CUBE 

We have seen that in each cell in the hu- 
man body is embodied a part of the Sub- 
conscious Mind, sufficient in quantity and 
quality to enable the cell to perform its par- 
ticular work in the physical community of 
cells. In the same manner each group of 
cells, large or small, is possessed of the quan- 
tity and quality of mind adapted to the suc- 
cessful performance of its particular func- 
tion. And, rising in the scale, we find that 
each of the physical organs is possessed of 
a *' composite cell-souP' or * ^ organ-mind. ' ' 
As Hudson says: *^Each organ of the body 
is composed of a group of cells which are 
differentiated with special reference to the 
functions to be performed by that organ. In 
other words, every function of life is per- 
formed by groups of co-operative cells, so 
that the body as a whole is simply a confed- 
eration of the various groups.'' 

58 



Mental Basis of Cure 59 

For instance, as Haeckel says: '^This 'tis- 
sue sonP is the bigber psycbological function 
wbicb gives physiological individuality to the 
compound multicellular organism as a true 
'cell commonwealth.' It controls all the sep- 
arate 'cell souls' of the social cells— the mu- 
tually dependent 'citizens' which constitute 
the community. . . . The human egg- 
cell, as soon as it is fertilized, multiplies by 
division and forms a community, or colony 
of many social cells. These differentiate 
themselves, and by their specialization, by 
various modifications of these cells, the va- 
rious tissues which compose the -various or- 
gans are developed. The developed many- 
celled organisms of man and of all higher 
animals resemble, therefore, a social civil 
community, the numerous single individuals 
of which are, indeed, developed in various 
ways, but which were originally only simple 
cells of one common structure." 

Biology shows us that there are unques- 
tionably methods of communication between 
cell and cell, although it has not as yet been 
definitely determined just how this communi- 
cation is effected. In the cell-communities 



60 Mind and Body 

of tlie micro-organisms there is undoubtedly 
present the power to communicate on the 
part of the several cells composing the com- 
munity, and the pain or discomfort of one 
part is evidently felt by the whole community. 
Just as an army, or a congregation, has a 
mind common to the whole, in addition to the 
individual minds of its units, so has every or- 
gan of the body an *' organ mind" in addition 
to the individual cell minds of its unit cells. 
Tlje fact of the existence of ''group-mind,'' 
or ''collective-mind" is recognized by the 
best authorities in modern psychology, and 
the study of its principles throws light on 
some hitherto perplexing phenomena. 

Prof. Le Bon, in his work "The Crowd," 
says of the "collective mind" of men: "The 
sentiments and ideas of all the persons in the 
gathering take one and the same direction, 
and their conscious personality vanishes. A 
collective mind is formed, doubtless transi- 
tory, but presenting very clearly marked 
characteristics. The gathering has become 
what, in the absence of a better expression, 
I will call an organized crowd, or, if the term 
be considered preferable, a psychological 



Mental Basis of Cure 61 

crowd. It forms a single being, and is sub- 
jected to the law of the mental unity of 
crowds. . . . The most striking pecu- 
liarity presented by a psychological crowd 
is the following: Whoever be the individuals 
that compose it, however like or unlike be 
their mode of life, their occupation, their 
character, or their intelligence, the fact that 
they have been transformed into a crowd 
puts them in possession of a sort of collective 
mind, which makes them feel, think, and act 
in a manner quite different from that in 
which each individual of them would feel, 
think and act, were he in a state of isolation. 
There are certain ideas and feelings which 
do not come into being, or do not transform 
themselves into acts, except in the case of 
the individuals forming a crowd. 
In the collective mind the intellectual apti- 
tudes of the individuals, and in consequence 
their individuality, is weakened. 
The most careful observations seem to prove 
that an individual immerged for some length 
of time in a crowd in action soon finds itself 
in a special state, which most resembles the 
state of fascination in which the hypnotized 



62 Mind and Body 

individual finds himself. . . . The con- 
scious personality has entirely vanished, will 
and discernment are lost. All feelings and 
thoughts are bent in the direction determined 
by the hypnotizer. . . . An individual in 
a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains 
of sand, which the wind stirs up at will. ' ' 

In short, psychology recognizes a mental 
fusion between the individual minds of units 
composing a community of cells, insects, 
higher animals and even men. The '* spirit 
of the hive*' noted by all students of bee-life, 
and the community spirit in an ant-hill are 
instances serving to illustrate the general 
principle of '*the collective mind." As we 
have seen in the preceding chapter, the en- 
tire human body is a vast community of cells, 
each unit in the community having relations 
with every other unit, and all having sprung 
from the same original egg-cell. This great 
community, or nation of cells is divided into 
many smaller communities, chief among 
which are the principal organs of the body, 
as the stomach, the intestines, the liver, the 
kidneys, the spleen, the heart, etc. And, fol- 
lowing the general rule, each of these organ- 



Mental Basis of Cure 63 

communities possesses its own ^^ collective 
mind," subordinate, of course, to the great 
community mind known as the Subconscious 
Mind. Ordinarily these communities live in 
peace and harmony, and in obedience to the 
national government. But occasionally re- 
bellions and revolutions are started, which 
cause much inharmony, pain and disease. 
Sometimes these rebellions arise from abuse 
of the particular organ by its owner, or from 
sympathy with another abused organ, or 
from general abuse of the system. But, at 
other times, there seems to be an active dis- 
content springing up in an organ, to the quell- 
ing of which the entire Subconscious Mind 
bends its energy and forces. Very often 
these rebellions are started by adverse auto- 
suggestions or fear thoughts emanating from 
the conscious mind of the individual, which 
act according to the law of suggestion and 
practically hypnotize the mind of the organ 
in question. 

This idea of each organ having a mind of 
its own— being practically an entity, in fact— 
may be somewhat startling to those who have 
never had the matter presented to them, but 



64 Mind and Body 

the statement is backed up by tbe best scien- 
tific authorities who, however, do not usually 
state it in so plain terms, or popular form. 
It is likely that the science of the future will 
make some great discoveries regarding this 
matter of the ^^ collective mind'' of the or- 
gans, and that the schools of medicine will 
adapt the new knowledge to the treatment of 
disease. In the meantime, the practitioners 
of Mental Healing are availing themselves of 
this principle, often without realizing the 
principle itself. 

The writer has been interested in this sub- 
ject of the ^' organ mind'' for a number of 
years, and has conducted a number of experi- 
ments along this line, the result being that he 
feels more firmly convinced each year of the 
truth of the theory or idea. He has found 
that mental treatments based on this theory 
have been very successful, much more so in 
fact than those conducted in pursuance to 
other theories. It seems that by applying the 
suggestive treatment direct to the affected 
organ a quicker response is had. The writer 
is indebted to Dr. Paul Edwards, a well 
known mental healer, who several years ago 



Mental Basis of Cure 65 

advanced the idea that the mind or *' intelli- 
gence*' in the several organs differed greatly 
in temperament and quality. He informed 
US that he had proven to his own satisfac- 
tion that the heart is *^very intelligent/' and 
qnite amenable to mild, gentle, coaxing sug- 
gestions, advice or orders; while, on the 
other hand, the liver is a most mulish, stub- 
born, obstinate organ-mind, which requires 
one to drive it in a sharp positive maimer. 
Investigation along these lines suggested by 
Dr. Edwards has convinced the writer that 
the theory is warranted by the facts. Ex- 
periments have shown that the heart organ- 
mind is gentle, mild, and easily influenced by 
kindly suggestion, advice and requests, and 
that it needs but a word directed to it to at- 
tract its attention. Likewise, the liver has 
been found to be brutish, stubborn and ob- 
stinate, needing the most vigorous sugges- 
tions—in short the liver-mind is a donkey 
and must be so treated. The liver-mind is 
sluggish, torpid and sleepy, and needs much 
prodding before it will * * sit up and take no- 
tice." The stomach has been found to be 
quite intelligent, especially when it has not 



66 * Mind and Body 

been brutalized by ^ * stuffing. ' ' It will readily 
respond to suggestive treatment of all kinds, 
it being noticed that it may be easily flat- 
tered or ** jollied" into good behavior, just 
as may certain children. The nervous sys- 
tem has a mind of its own, and will accept 
suggestions, although it is usually difficult 
to attract its attention, owing to its habit of 
concentration upon its regular work. The 
bowel-mind will respond to firm, kind treat- 
ment, as will also the uterus-mind and the 
mind controlling the other organs peculiar 
to women. 

In another work, the writer has said re- 
garding this form of treatment of the organs 
through their organ-minds: '^Eemeinber, 
always, that you are mind talking to mind, 
not to dead matter. There is mind in every 
cell, nerve, organ and part of the body, and 
in the body as a whole, and this mind will 
listen to your central mind and obey it, be- 
cause your central mind is positive to it— 
the organ is negative to you. Carry this 
idea with you in giving these treatments, and 
endeavor to visualize the mind in the or- 
gans, as clearly as may be, for by so doing 



Mental Basis of Cure 67 

you get them in better rapport with you, and 
can handle them to better advantage. And 
always remember that the virtue lies not in 
the mere sound of the words that happen to 
reach the organ or cells— they do not under- 
stand words as words, but they do under- 
stand the meaning behind the words. But 
without words it is very hard for you to 
think, or clearly express the feeling— and 
so, by all means use the words just as if the 
organ-mind understood the actual meaning 
thereof, for by so doing you can drive in the 
meaning of the word— and induce the men- 
tal state and conditions necessary to work 
the cure. 

Dr. S. F. Meacham, in a magazine article 
published several years ago, said: *^Let me 
once more call your attention to that one 
great principle of disease and cure. It is 
the only medical creed I hold to-day and will 
bear repeating, lest we neglect it. Disease 
is a failure of the cells to make good their 
waste J or to do their full duty. This may be 
an individual matter with the cell, or may 
result from imperfect co-operation; there 



68 Mind and Body 

may be a mutiny in tlie co-operative com- 
monwealth, constituting the body. Apart 
from all mutual help, or co-operation of cells, 
each individual cell must either do its full 
duty, or suffer, and perchance die, as the 
result. Remember that each individual cell 
lives, and has an office that no other cell can 
fill to save it. If the other cell does the work, 
it will live, but the failing cell will not profit 
thereby. By co-operating they may lighten 
each other's labors, but no cell is or can he 
exempt from doing its part. Any failure of 
this kind is disease either local or general, 
according to the degree and nature of the 
failure, or according to the importance of 
the mutinous or weakened cell. A cure re- 
sults wben the cells again do their work. Or, 
if a certain number die, a cure is established 
when other cells learn to do that particular 
work, which is sometimes the case. A rem- 
edy is any substance, or force, ar procedure 
tbat will stimulate, or help, or remove obsta- 
cles that prevent these cells from doing their 
work. Keep in mind, that the life process 
acting through or in the cell does the work 
either aided, or alone. The lesson then is 



Mental Basis of Cure 69 

that all tliese methods do good, and that ow- 
ing to the view point, mental status, or ex- 
pectancy of the individual, now one and now 
another method will appeal to him and be 
accepted. No matter what we do, we aid, 
we assist only— we do not cure. 
The process going on in each cell is cm in- 
telligent one, and all extrinsic methods are 
really but suggestions offered to the cell, 
the real worker ; and the fact is that any one 
of these helps may be chosen, and all may 
be rejected. . . ." 

**The repair of a cell is as equally as in- 
tellectual a process as any other can be. If, 
for instance, blind force can repair one cell, 
it can many; if it can build one, it can all, 
and mind and intellect are then without 
causal efficacy, without spontaneity, and 
blind force, fatality and purposeless action 
reign supreme. . . . According to this 
theory the building and repairing of cells 
would not be intellectual, as there would be 
no working plan or purpose. I am aware 
that a purely extrinsic study of the cells 
and of the body will force this conclusion 
upon any candid, unprejudiced mind; but 



70 Mind and Body 

a study from the inside is a different mat- 
ter. A cell, looked at from without, moves 
only when stimulated; but is this really true? 
The body is but a compound of cells when 
viewed from the outside; then if one cell 
moves when stimulated, why not twenty, a 
hundred, a thousand, a billion, the entire 
body! But is it true of the body? You 
come to me and propose some scheme, or act, 
which I carry out. Now is your proposition 
the real cause of my act, or only a condition! 
I>o I not choose, and either do the thing or 
not, as determined from within! If this is 
true of the body, why not of the cell! May 
not the stimulation we see be a condition 
only, and the real cause of the act be within 
the cell itself! . . . The cell is not a 
mere machine, hut a living entity, doing 
everything that the body does. It eats, 
drinks, moves, reproduces its kind, selects 
its food, repairs its waste, etc. These are 
intellectual processes, but may not be 
conscious. . . 

*^The cure consists in the repairing of 
the wasted tissue, and in the cells restoring 
and repairing themselves into a definite pat- 



Mental Basis of Cuke 71 

tern, necessary to mutual work, so that the 
commonwealth may prosper. Air, water, sun- 
shine, food, etc., are necessary to the per- 
formance of this work of repair. When 
these are furnished, even under the best con- 
ditions possible, the cells must use them to 
build up the waste, and this they do by their 
internal forces. But this process is what is 
called repair on the one hand, and cure on 
the other. External means may be essential, 
but that will not make them really curative. 
. . . It is well, also, to keep in mind that 
external in the true sense of the term as 
we are using it here. Any force outside of 
the diseased cell is an external force to that 
cell even if it be thought- force. Disease is 
always treated by external force, external as 
defined above, and all disease is just as 
surely cured by internal force— viz: force 
resident in the cell itself. Here we all stand 
around the suffering cell, one with drug- 
power in his hand, another with electricity, 
or water, or heat, or directed attention— 
thought-force or more nourishment which 
necessitates a better circulation to that area, 
or some other of the thousand therapeutic 



72 Mind and Body 

measures, and we are close enough together 
at last to see that we are simply using dif- 
ferent stimuli to try to aid the real worker 
within the cell to do his work by furnishing, 
not only material that is necessary, but force 
as well, that out of the abundance his work 
may be easy and rapid. ' ' 

The reader who will consider the numer- 
ous instances of cure by Suggestion or 
Faith-Cure, as noted in the following chap- 
ters, will be better able to understand the 
principle underlying these cures if he will 
realize the fact brought out so forcibly by 
Dr. Meacham, as above quoted. The atten- 
tion of the patient being directed to the or- 
gan affected, in connection with the stimu- 
lating and vitalizing effect of Faith and Be- 
lief, starts into renewed activity the cell- 
mind of the organ in question, and arouses 
its reparative and recuperative energies. 
Each organ, and its component cells and cell- 
groups, is of course under the control of the 
Subconscious Mind, and forms a part of the 
material embodiment thereof. The Subcon- 
scious Mind, being stimulated by the Sug- 
gestion and Faith, and having its Expectant 



Mental Basis of Cure 73 

Attention aroused, concentrates its energies 
upon the reparative and recuperative proc- 
esses in the organ, and the work of cure pro- 
ceeds. The cure, in every case, is simply 
either repair work, or else the restoration 
of normal functioning— in either case the 
cells themselves doing the work. 

In the consideration of the reasons under- 
lying the cure of disease by Psycho-Thera- 
peutics, we must first consider the question 
of what disease really is. And in this phase 
of the consideration, it will be well for us to 
first dispel the erroneous ideas concerning 
disease which we have been entertaining. 
Perhaps the following striking statement 
from Sidney Murphy, M. D., printed in the 
magazine ** Suggestion" several years ago, 
may help you to form a correct idea of the 
nature of disease, or rather a correct idea 
of what disease is not. Dr. Murphy says, in 
the said article, among other things: *'Prof. 
S D. Gross, formerly of the New York Uni- 
versity Medical School, says: *0f the es- 
sence of disease very little is known— indeed 
nothing at all.' Nevertheless it is evident 



74 Mind and Body 

tliat medical men have an idea on the sub- 
ject. The theory generally held, I believe, 
is that disease is destructive action; but just 
what this means, whether des.truotive action 
on the part of vitality itself, or by something 
acting upon the vitality, is not so clear; but 
we are enabled to gain some light by reference 
to the expression used in medical books con- 
cerning it. Thus we find that disease * at- 
tacks us,' that it * seats itself in an organ,' 
that *it works through us., runs its course,' 
etc. It is also said to be *very malignant,^ 
or * quite mild, ' ^ persistently resisting all 
treatment,' or * yielding readily' to it. In 
fact, it is considered an entity, possessing 
character and disposition and general vital 
qualities— a something which domiciles it- 
self in the vital domain, and exercises its 
forces to the destruction of the vital powers. 
It is indeed spoken of as one would speak of 
a rat in his granary, or a mouse in his cup- 
board, and efforts are made to dislodge it, 
or kill it, as one would dislodge or kill any 
other living thing. This theory of disease 
is beginning to be looked upon even by the 
medical world as untenable. Living things 



Mental Basis of Cure 75 

are always possessed of organizations hav- 
ing fonn or shape ; and hence if disease were 
such, its form would be discerned and de- 
scribed; a thing which never has been done. 
Disease by our ancestors was considered a 
subtile and mysterious thing which pounced 
down upon us, and runs its course without any 
reference to causes; and language being 
formed to convey this idea, it has been trans- 
mitted almost unchanged from generation 
to generation down to the present time. And 
the medical profession of today is simply 
an embodiment of that idea. It is probable 
that the term * destructive action' is gener- 
ally held to mean destructive action on the 
part of the vitality itself. . . . Life in 
organic form is developed according to law. 
Slowly rising into power, organization at 
length reaches it zenith, and then goes down 
the gentle declivity, until the soul steps off 
into the great beyond, without pain or strug- 
gle, provided always that the conditions of 
life are natural and therefore favorable ; but 
if these be unfavorable, unfavorable results 
must of course follow; vitality, neverthe- 
less, doing the best it can under the eircum- 



76 Mind and Body 

stances to preserve the normal state of tlie 
body. Disease, we propose to show, is not 
antagonistic to vital action, but the oppo- 
site, a remedial effort, or vital action on the 
defensive. It is not a downward tendency, 
nor the result of a downward tendency on 
the part of a living organism, but is itself 
an upward or self -preservative tendency, the 
result of disobedience to natural laws. It 
is simply abnormal action, because of abnor- 
mal conditions/' 

In considering the above revolutionary 
statement of Dr. Murphy, we must remem- 
ber that ^* vitality" or *^ vital force" is sim- 
ply the action of the Subconscious Mind 
operating through the sympathetic system, 
the organ-minds, and the cell-minds. All 
vital energy, at the last is mental energy. 
And, we must also remember that the ** ab- 
normal conditions" which Dr. Murphy 
speaks of as being the cause of ^'abnormal 
action" or disease, are not confined alone to 
physical or material conditions, but also to 
abnormal mental conditions, such as fear- 
thought, adverse suggestions, improper use 
of the imagination, etc. As we have seen 



Mental Basis of Cure 77 

in the preceding chapters, the causes of dis- 
ease may be mental as well as material or 
physical. 

The Subconscious Mind in its vital activi- 
ties is constantly at work building up, re- 
pairing, growing, nourishing, supporting 
and regulating the body, doing its best to 
throw off abnormal conditions, and seeking 
to do the best it can when these conditions 
cannot be removed. With its source pure and 
unpolluted the stream of vitality flows on 
unhindered, but when the poison of fear- 
thought, adverse suggestion and false be- 
lief is poured into the source or spring from 
which the stream rises, it follows that the 
waters of life will no longer be pure and 
clear. Let us notice the general direction of 
the vital activities of the Subconscious Mind. 

In the first place we find that the vital ac- 
tivities are primarily concerned with self- 
preservation^ that is with the preservation 
of the individual and the race. One has but 
to notice the ever-present manifestation of 
the **race instinct" which draws the males 
and females of the several species together, 
that they may mate and bring forth the 



78 Mind and Body 

young needed to keep alive the species. The 
parental devotions, with its many sacrifices 
of personal pleasure for the young, are in- 
stances ever before us. And no less strik- 
ing is the companion activities which make 
for the preservation of the individual. The 
instinctive tendency toward self-preserva- 
tion is so strong that it overpowers the rea- 
son in the majority of cases. Men may de- 
cry the value of life, but let their life be 
threatened and the instinctive protective 
feeling causes them to fight for life against 
all odds. *^A11 that a man hath will he give 
for his life.'^ And this instinctive activity 
is manifest not only in the individual as a 
whole, but in every cell of his body. Every 
cell is striving hard for the welfare of the 
community of which it forms a part. Even 
in disease it strives to throw off the abnor- 
mal conditions which afflict the body, and 
failing to do so it hobbles along doing the 
best it can under the circumstances. 

The tiny seed sprouting in the ground, 
and lifting weights a thousand times that of 
itself, shows the self-preservative energies 
and activities of the mind principle within 



Mental Basis of Cure 79 

it. The healing work of the cells in the case 
of a wound, or of a broken bone, as described 
elsewhere in this book, gives ns another ex- 
ample. The healing efforts of the organism 
striving to throw off the morbid substances 
within the body, purging them away in a 
flux, or burning them up with a fever, show 
the operations of the same principle. This, 
we have seen, is called the vis medicatrix na- 
turae, or ** healing power of nature,'* which 
operates in man as well as in the case of the 
lower animals— but it is really but the oper- 
ations of the great Subconscious Mind of the 
individual. As Dr. Murphy, previously 
quoted, says: *^ Certainly all experience de- 
clares and all physicians will admit that 
where vital power is abundant in a man he 
will get well from almost any injuries short 
of complete destruction of vital organs; but 
where vitality is low, recovery is much more 
diflficult, if not impossible, which can only 
be explained on the principle that vitality 
always works upward toward life and health 
to the extent of its ability under the circum- 
stances, because, if it worked downward, the 



so Mind and Body 

less vitality, the more surely and speedily 
would death result.'^ 

Following the law of self-preservation, we 
find that of accommodation manifesting it- 
self in the vital activities of the Subconscious 
Mind. This principle or law works in the 
direction of adjusting the organism to con- 
ditions which it cannot remedy. Thus a sap- 
ling bent out of shape, will bend its branches 
upward until once more they will reach to- 
ward the sky notwithstanding the deformed 
trunk. Seed sprouting from a narrow crev- 
ice in a rock, and unable to split the rock, 
will assume a deformed shape but will hold 
tenaciously to Hfe, and will thrive under 
these abnormal conditions. This principle 
of accommodation acts upon the idea of **life 
at any price," and of '^making the best of 
things.'' Man and the lower animals ac- 
commiodate themselves to their environment, 
when they are unable to overcome the un- 
satisfactory conditions of the latter. The 
study of anthropology, natural history, and 
botany will convince anyone that the prin- 
ciple of accommodation is everywhere pres- 
ent in connection with that of self-preserva- 



Mental Basis of Cure 81 

tion. And the diseased conditions, and 
abnormal functioning, which we find in cases 
of chronic diseases is simply the principle 
of accommodation in the vital activities of 
the Subconscious Mind, but which it is ** try- 
ing to make the best of it," and. holding 
on to *'life at any price.'' 

Dr. Murphy, previously quoted, says: 
*' Disease, in its essential nature, has a 
deeper significance than simply abnormal 
manifestations. It is really a remedial ef- 
fort, not necessarily successful, but an at- 
tempt to change, or have changed existing 
conditions. And for this reason any im- 
proper relation of the living organism to 
external agents necessarily results in an in- 
jury to that organism, which by virtue of its 
being self-preservative, immediately sets up 
defensive action, and begins as soon as pos- 
sible to repair the damages that have ac- 
crued. This defensive or reparative action, 
of course, corresponds to the conditions to 
be corrected, and hence is abnormal and dis- 
eased; and its severity and persistence will 
depend upon the damages to be repaired, 
and the intensity and persistence of the 



82 Mind and Body 

causes that produced it. Serious injury- 
present or impending will demand serious 
vital action; desperate conditions, desper- 
ate action. But in all cases tlie action is 
vital, an attempt at restoration, and tlie en- 
ergy displayed will exactly correspond to 
the interests involved and the vitality that 
is available." 

From the above, and from what has been 
shown in previous chapters, it will be seen 
that just as is health the result of the nor- 
mal functioning of the Subconscious Mind, 
so is disease the result of its abnormal 
functioning. And it may also be seen that 
the true healing power must come alone from 
and through the Subconscious Mind itself, 
although the same may be aroused, awak- 
ened and directed by various outside agen- 
cies. As Dr. Thomson J. Hudson says: 
** Granted that there is an intelligence that 
controls the functions of the body in health, 
it follows that it is the same power or en- 
ergy that fails in case of disease. Failing, 
it requires assistance; and that is what all 
therapeutic agencies aim to accomplish. No 
intelligent physician of any school claims 



Mental Basis of Cure 83 

to be able to do more than to * assist nature' 
to restore normal conditions of the body. 
That it is a mental energy that thus requires 
assistance, no one denies ; for science teaches 
us that the whole body is made up of a con- 
federation of intelligent entities, each of 
which performs its functions with an intelli- 
gence exactly adapted to the performance of 
its special duties as a member of the confed- 
eracy. There is, indeed, no life without 
mind, from the lowest unicellular organism 
up to man. It is therefore a mental energy 
that actuates every fiber of the body under 
all its conditions. That there is a central in- 
telligence that controls each of these mind 
organisms, is self-evident. ... It is 
sufficient for us to know that such an intelli- 
gence exists, and that, for the time being, 
it is the controlling energy that normally 
regulates the action of the myriad cells of 
which the body is composed. It is, then, a 
mental organism that all therapeutic 
agencies are designed to energize, when, for 
any cause, it fails to perform its functions 
with reference to any part of the physical 
structure.'* 



CHAPTER Y ' 

THE HISTORY OF PSYCHO-THERAPY 

One of the most remarkable acliievements 
of the New Psyeliology is that of gathering 
np the scattered instances of the effect of 
the power of the mind over the body, under 
the various masks and guises worn during 
• the ages, and uniting them in one broad and 
general synthesis in which is to be seen the 
one fundamental principle of Mental Heal- 
ing operating under a thousand names, 
forms and theories, in every race, nation 
and clime in all ages past and present. The 
New Psychology is the great reconciler of 
the various theories, dogmas and specula- 
tions concerned with the subject of the 
strange cures effected by the mind, as well as 
with the equally strange adverse effect upon 
the physical organism of negative thoughts. 
From the earliest days of history we find 
records of strange and marvelous cures ef- 
fected by non-material agents. In some 

84 



History of Psycho-Theeapy 85 

cases the effect is attributed to magical 
power, while in others, and the majority of 
cases, the cure is attributed to some particu- 
lar religious belief, creed or ceremony. Not 
only in the folk-lore of the several races, and 
in their general traditions, but also in the 
written and graven record do we find traces 
of the universality of the principle of mental 
therapeutics. 

H. Addington Bruce says: ^* Psycho- 
therapy might well be cited in support of 
the old adage that there is nothing new but 
what has been forgotten. Traces of it are to 
be found almost as far back as authentic his- 
tory extends, and even allusion to methods 
which bear a strong resemblance to those of 
modern times. The literature and monu- 
mental remains of ancient Egypt, Greece, 
Eome, Persia, India and China reveal a 
widespread knowledge of hypnotism and its 
therapeutic value. There is in the British 
Museum a bas-relief from Thebes which has 
been interpreted as representing a physician 
hypnotizing a patient by making * passes' 
over him. According to the Ebers papyrus, 
the * laying on of hands' formed a prominent 



86 Mind and Body 

feature of Egyptian medical practice as 
early as 1552 B. C, or nearly thirty-five hun- 
dred years ago ; and it is known that a simi- 
lar mode of treatment was employed by 
priests of Chaldea in ministering to the sick. 
So, also, the priests of the famous Temples 
of Health are credited with having worked 
numerous cures by the mere touch of the 
hands.. In connection with these same 
Temples of Health were sleeping chambers, 
ijepose in which was supposed to be excep- 
tionally beneficial. Asclepiades of Bithynia, 
who won considerable fame at Eome as a 
physician, systematically made use of the 
induced trance' in the treatment of certain 
diseases. Plautus, Martial, and Seneca re- 
fer in their writings to some mysterious 
process of manipulation which had the same 
effect— that is, of putting persons into an ar- 
tificial sleep. And Solon sang, apparently, 
of some form of mesmeric cure : 

"'The smallest hurts sometimes increase and rage 
More than all art of physic can assuage; 
Sometimes the fury of the worst disease 
The hand by gentle stroking, will appease.' 

''Many other instances might be men- 



History of Psycho-Therapy 87 

tioned testifying to the remarkable extent to 
which psycho-therapy, in one form or an- 
other, was utilized in the countries of the 
ancient world. This, of course, does not 
necessarily imply that the ancients had any 
real understanding of the psychological and 
physiological principles governing its oper- 
ation. On the contrary, there is every rea- 
son to believe that they used it much as do 
too many of the mental healers of to-day— 
on the basis of * faith cure' pure and simple, 
with no attempt at diagnosis, and in a hit- 
or-miss fashion. It was not until the very 
end of the Middle Ages, so far as history in- 
forms us, that anything even remotely re- 
sembling a scientific inquiry into its nature 
and possibilities was undertaken, and then 
only in a faint, vague, indefinite way, by 
men who were metaphysicians and mystics 
rather than scientists. The first of these, 
Petrys Pomponatius, a sixteenth-century 
philosopher, sought to prove that disease 
was curable without drugs, by means of the 
* magnetism' existing in certain specially 
gifted individuals. ^When those who are en- 
dowed with this faculty,' he affirmed, *oper- 



88 Mind and Body 

ate by employing the force of the imagina- 
tion and the will, this force affects, their 
blood and their spirits, which produce the 
intended effects by means of an evaporation 
thrown outwards. ' Following Pomponatius, 
John Baptist von Helmont, to whom medical 
science owes a great deal, also proclaimed 
the curative virtue of magnetism, which he 
described as an invisible fluid called forth 
and directed by the influence of the human 
will. Other writers, notably Sir Kenelm 
Digby, laid stress on the power of the imagi- 
nation as an agent in the cause as well as 
the cure of disease, compiling in a curious 
little treatise published in 1658, as interest- 
ing a collection of illustrative cases as is 
contained in the literature of modern psycho- 
therapy.'' 

In the Middle Ages, we read that there 
were many instances of miraculous cures ef- 
fected at the various shrines of the saints, 
and in the churches in which were exhibited 
the bones and other relics of the holy peo- 
ple of church history. As Dr. George E. 
Patton says: ''A word scrawled upon parch- 
ment, for instance, would cure fevers; an 



History of Psycho-Therapy 89 

hexameter from the Iliad of Homer cured 
gout, while rheumatism succumhed to a verse 
from Lamentations. These could be multi- 
plied, and undoubtedly all were equally po- 
tent of cure in like manner. ... At one 
time holy wells were to be found in almost 
every parish of Ireland, to which wearisome 
journeys were made for the miraculous pow- 
ers of cure. It was the custom of the cured 
to hang upon the bushes contiguous to the 
springs small fragments of their clothing, or 
a cane, or a crutch as a memento of cure, so 
that from afar the springs could be easily 
located by the many colored fragments of 
clothing, rags, canes and crutches swayed 
upon the branches by the wind. Inasmuch 
as the bushes for many rods around were 
thus adorned, the cures must have been far 
from few.'' 

In the Middle Ages it was the custom of 
persons afflicted with scrofula and kindred 
disorders to come before the king upon cer- 
tain days to receive the ^^Eoyal Touch,*' or 
laying-on-of-hands which was held to be an 
infallible specific for the disease. The cus- 



90 Mind and Body 

torn was instituted by Edward the Confes- 
sor, and continued until the accession to 
power of the house of Brunswick. It is a 
matter of history that many persons were 
cured by the touch of the king's hands. 
Wiseman, a celebrated surgeon and physi- 
cian of old London testifies as follows: **I 
myself have been an eye-witness of many 
thousands of cures performed by his maj- 
esty's touch alone, without any assistance of 
metiicine or surgery, and those, many of 
them, such as had tired out the endeavors 
of able surgeons before they came hither. 
. . . I must needs profess that what I 
write will little more than show the weak- 
ness of our ability when compared with his 
majesty's, who cureth more in one year than 
all the surgeons of London have done in an 
age." The virtue of the ^^ King's Touch" 
was finally brought in doubt by the wonder- 
ful successes of a man by the name of Valen- 
tine Greatrakes, who in the Seventeenth Cen- 
tury began ** laying on hands" and made 
even more wonderful cures than those of the 
king. So marked was his success that the 
government had difficulty in suppressing the 



History of Psycho-Therapy 91 

growing conviction among the common peo- 
ple that Greatrakes must be of royal blood, 
and the rightful heir to the throne, because 
of the great healing virtues of his hands, 
which, they argued, could be possessed only 
by those having royal blood in their veins. 
The Chirurgical Society of London investi- 
gated Greatrakes' cures, and rendered an 
opinion that he healed by virtue of ^*some 
mysterious sanative contagion in his body.'' 
But perhaps the most notable figure in the 
European history of Mental Healing was 
Franz Anton Mesmer, a native of Switzer- 
land, who was born in 1734, and who later 
in the century created the greatest excite- 
ment in several European countries by his 
strange theories and miraculous claims. 
Frank Podmore in a recent work says of 
Mesmer: **He had no pretensions to be a 
thinker; he stole his philosophy ready-made 
from a few belated alchemists; and his en- 
tire system of healing was based on a delu- 
sion. His extraordinary success was due to 
the lucky accident of the times. Mesmer 's 
first claim to our remembrance lies in this— 
that he wrested the privilege of healing from 



92 Mind and Body 

the cliurclies and gave it to mankind aS' a 
■universal possession." 

Mesmer held that there was in Nature a 
universal magnetic force which had a pow- 
erful therapeutic effect when properly ap- 
plied. He cured many people by touching 
them with an iron rod, through which he 
claimed the universal magnetism flowed 
from his body to that of the patient. He 
called this magnetic fluid ''animial mag- 
netism. ' ' Later on he devised his celebrated 
** magnetic tub'' or haquet, by means of^ 
which he was able to treat his patients en^ 
masse. Podmore gives the following inter- 
esting account of scenes surrounding his 
treatments : 

'^The baquet was a large oaken tub, four 
or five feet in diameter and a foot or more 
in depth, closed by a wooden cover. Inside 
the tub were placed bottles full of water dis- 
posed in rows radiating from the center, the 
necks in some of the rows pointing towards 
the center, in others away from it. AH these 
bottles had been previously ^magnetized' by 
Mesmer. Sometimes there were several 
rows^ ef bottles, one abovei the otherj the 



History of Psycho-Therapy 93 

machine was then said to be at high pres- 
sure. The bottles rested on layers of pow- 
dered glass and iron filings. The tub itself 
was filled with water. The whole machine, 
it will be seen, was a kind of travesty of the 
galvanic cell. To carry out the resemblance, 
the cover of the tub was pierced with holes, 
through which passed slender iron rods of 
varying lengths, which were jointed and 
movable, so that they could be readily ap- 
plied to any part of the patient's body. 
Eound this battery the patients were seated 
in a circle, each with his iron rod. Further, 
a cord, attached at one end to the tub, was 
passed round the body of each of the sit- 
ters, so as to bind them all into a chain. Out- 
side the first a second circle would fre- 
quently be formed, who would connect them- 
selves together by holding hands. Mesmer, 
in a lilac robe, and his assistant operators— 
vigorous and handsome young men selected 
for the purpose— walked about the room, 
pointing their fingers or an iron rod held in 
their hands at the diseased parts." 

Mesmer made many wonderful cures, and 
attracted wide attention. In 1781 the king 



94 Mind and Body 

of France offered him a pension of thirty 
thousand livres if he would make public his 
secret. The offer was refused, but he gave 
private instruction and opened a school. 
He had many pupils and followers, promi- 
nent among whom was the Marquis de Puy- 
segur, who made discoveries resulting in the 
identification of Mesmerism with the * France 
condition" now commonly associated with 
the term, whereas originally Mesmerism in- 
cluded simply the healing process. Mes- 
mer's methods continued popular for many 
years after his death, until Braid's work re- 
sulted in the founding of the modern school 
of Hypnotism, and Mesmerism died out. 

The Abbe Faria, about 1815, after inves- 
tigating Mesmerism and attracting much at- 
tention, discarded the ^^fluidic'^ theory of 
Mesmer, and held, instead, that in order to 
induce the mesmeric state and to produce the 
phenomena thereof, it was necessary merely 
to create a mental state of *^ expectant at- 
tention'^ on the part of the patient. The 
cause of the state and the phenomena, he 
held, was not in the operator but in the 
mind of the patient— purely subjective, in 



History of Psycho-Therapy 95 

fact. Alexander Bertrand, a Frencliman, 
published a work about this time, holding 
theories similar to those of Faria. In 1841 
James Braid, an English physician, be<?om- 
ing interested in Mesmerism, discovered that 
the mesmeric state might be artificially in- 
duced by staring at bright objects until the 
eyes became fatigued, etc., and, later, that 
any method whereby concentration and '* ex- 
pectant attention" might be induced would 
produce the phenomenon. He duplicated all 
the feats of the mesmerists, including the 
healing of diseases. He called his new sys- 
tem *^ Hypnotism" to distinguish it from 
Mesmerism, and under its new name it 
gained favor among the medical fraternity. 
Moreover, in connection with his predeces- 
sors, Faria and Bertrand, he laid the basis 
for the modern theories of Suggestive 
Therapeutics. 

Shortly after Braid's death, in 1860, Dr. 
A. A. Liebault, a French physician, estab- 
lished his since famous School of Nancy, in 
which during the after years the later won- 
derful discoveries in Suggestive Thera- 
I)eutics were made. He used the methods of 



96 Mind and Body 

hypnotism, but Suggestion was ever the op- 
erative principle recognized and applied. 
Liebault said : * ^ It is all a matter of Sugges- 
tion. My patients are suggested to sleep, 
and their ills are suggested out of them. It 
is very simple, once you understand the laws 
of Suggestion." Dr. Charcot, in his cele- 
brated clinic in the Salpetriere, in Paris, 
did great work along the same general lines, 
although proceeding under somewhat differ- 
ent theories. Following the example of 
these and other eminent authorities, the 
medical fraternity has gradually adopted 
many of the ideas of Suggestive Thera- 
peutics, and to-day many of the best medi- 
cal schools throughout this country and 
Europe give instruction in this branch of 
healing. Many books have been written on 
the subject by eminent medical authorities, 
and the indications are that during the pres- 
ent century Suggestive Therapeutics, in its 
various forms, will come even more promi- 
nently into popular favor, and that it will 
be developed far beyond its present limits. 
Experimental work along these lines is now 



History of Psycho-Therapy 97 

being conducted in many psychological labo- 
ratories in our great universities. 

At the same time, as we shall now see, 
Mental Healing has been attracting much at- 
tention along other lines, outside of the 
medical profession, and often allied with re- 
ligious and metaphysical movements. To 
understand the subject, we must study it in 
all of its phases. 

In the early part of the nineteenth century 
Elijah Perkins, an ignorant blacksmith liv- 
ing in Connecticut conceived a queer idea of 
curing disease by means of a peculiar pair 
of tongs manufactured by himself, one prong 
being of brass and the other of steel. These 
tongs were called *' tractors/' and were ap- 
plied to the body of the patient in the region 
affected by disease, the body being stroked 
in a downward direction for a period of 
about ten minutes. The tractors were used 
to treat all manner of complaints, ailments 
and diseases, internal and external, with a 
wonderful degree of success. Almost mi- 
raculous cures of all manner of complaints 
were reported, and people flocked to Per- 



98 Mind and Body 

kins from far and near in order to receive 
the benefit of his wonderful treatments. 

Soon this system of healing came to be 
called **Perkinsism," as a tribute to the in- 
ventor. The popularity of the system spread 
rapidly in the United States, particularly in 
New England, every city and many towns 
patronizing Perkins' practitioners and heal- 
ers. From this country the craze spread to 
Great Britain, and even to the Continent. 
Centers of treatment, and even hospitals, 
were established by the ^^Perkinsites," and 
the fame of the tractors increased daily in 
ever widening circles. In Europe alone it 
is reported that over 1,500,000 cures were 
performed, and the medical fraternity were 
at their wit's ends to explain the phenome- 
non. Finally, Dr. Haygarth, of London, 
conceived the idea that the real virtue of 
the cures was vested in the minds, belief and 
imagination of the patients rather than in 
the tractors, and that the cures were the re- 
sult of the induced mental states of the pa- 
tients instead of by the metallic qualities of 
the apparatus. He determined to investi- 
gate the matter under this hypothesis, and 



History of Psycho-Therapy 99 

accordingly constructed a pair of tractors of 
wood, painted to resemble the genuine ones. 
The following account by Bostock describes 
the result: **He accordingly formed pieces 
of wood into the shape of tractors and with 
much assumed pomp and ceremony applied 
them to a number of sick persons who had 
been previously prepared to expect some- 
thing extraordinary. The effects were found 
to be astonishing. Obstinate pains in the 
limbs were suddenly cured; joints that had 
long been immovable were restored to mo- 
tion, and, in short, except the renewal of lost 
parts or the change in mechanical structure, 
nothing seemed beyond their power to ac- 
complish. '* The exposure of this experi- 
ment, and the general acceptance of the ex- 
planation of the phenomena, caused ''Per- 
kinsism" to die out rapidly, and at the pres- 
ent time it is heard of only in connection 
with the history of medicine and in the pages 
of works devoted to the subject of the effect 
of the mind over the body. 

The success of '^Perkinsism'* is but a 
typical instance which is duplicated every 
twenty years or so by the rapid rise, spread 



100 Mind and Body 

and then rapid decline of some new ^^ craze" 
in healing, all of which, when investigated 
are seen to be but new examples of the power 
of the mental states of faith and imagina- 
tion upon the physical organism. The well- 
known *^blue glass" craze of about thirty- 
five years ago gives us another interesting 
example. General Pleasanton, a well-known 
and prominent citizen of Philadelphia, an- 
nounced his discovery that the rays of the 
^n passing through the medium of blue 
glass possessed a wonderful therapeutic 
value. The idea fired the public imagination 
at once, and the General's book met with a 
large sale. Everyone, seemingly, began to 
experiment with the blue glass rays. Win- 
dows were fitted with blue glass panes, and 
the patients sat so that the sun's rays might 
fall upon them after passing through the 
blue panes. Wonderful cures were reported 
.from all directions, the results of ** Perkins- 
ism" being duplicated in almost every de- 
tail. Even cripples reported cures, and 
many chronic and 'incurable" cases were 
healed almost instantaneously. Bedridden 
people threw aside their blankets and 



History of Psycho-Therapy 101 

walked again, after a brief treatment. The 
interest developed into a veritable ^* craze/' 
and the glass factories were operated over- 
time in order to meet the overwhelming 
demand for blue glass, the price of which rap- 
idly advanced to fifty cents and even a dol- 
lar for a small pane, because of the scarcity. 
It was freely predicted that the days of 
physicians were over, and that the blue glass 
was the long-sought-for panacea for all hu- 
man ills. Suddenly, however, and from no 
apparent cause, the interest in the matter 
dropped, and now all that is left of the blue 
glass craze is the occasional sight of an old 
blue pane in some window, the owner of 
which evidently felt disinclined to pay the 
price of replacing it with a clear pane. Only 
a few days ago, in an old-fashioned quarter 
of a large city, the writer saw several panes 
of the old blue glass in the frame of the 
window of an old house which had seen bet- 
ter days but which was now used as a cheap 
tenement house. 

The history of medicine is filled with rec- 
ords of similar ** crazes" following the an- 
nouncement of some new method of ^'cure." 



102 Mind and Body 

The striking peculiarity of these cures ia 
that they all occur during the height of the 
excitement and notoriety of the early days 
of the announcement, while they decline in 
proportion to the decline m public faith and 
interest, the explanation being that in every 
instance the cure is effected by the action of 
the mental states of expectancy, faith, and 
the imagination of the patient, irrespective 
of any virtue in the method or system itself. 
In short, all these cures belong to the cate- 
gory of faith-cures— thej are merely dupli- 
cates of the world-old cures resulting from 
faith in sacred relics, shrines, bones of holy 
people, sacred places, etc., of which nearly 
every religion has given us many examples. 
The history of medicine gives us many in- 
stances of the efficacy of the therapeutic 
power of Faith. 

Sir Humphrey Davy relates a case in 
which a man seriously ill manifested imme- 
diate improvement after the placing of a 
clinical thermometer in his mouth, he sup- 
posing that it was some new and powerful 
healing instrument. The grotesque reme- 
dies of the ancient physicians, and the 



History of Psyoho-Therafy 103 

bizarre decoctions of the quacks of the pres- 
ent, all work cures. The ^* bread-pills'^ and 
other placebos of the * * regulars ' ' have cured 
many a ease when other remedies have 
failed. 

It is related that several hundred years 
ago, a young English law-student while on a 
lark with several of his boon companions 
found themselves in a rural inn, without 
money with which to pay their reckoning. 
Finally, after much thought, the young man 
called the inn-keeper and told him that he, 
the student, was a great physician, and that 
he would prepare for him a magic amulet 
which would cure all diseases, in return for 
the receipted account of himself and friends. 
The landlord gladly consented, and the 
young man wrote some gibberish on a bit of 
parchment, which together with sundry arti- 
cles of rubbish he inserted in a silk cover. 
With a wise and dignified air he then de- 
parted. Many years rolled by, and the 
young man rose to the position of a High 
Justice of the realm. One day before him 
was brought a woman accused of magic and 
witchcraft. The evidence showed that she 



104 Mind and Body 

had cured many people by applying to their 
bodies a little magic amulet, which the 
church authorities considered to be the work 
of the devil. The woman, on the stand, ad- 
mitted the use of the amulet and the many 
cures resulting therefrom, but defended her- 
self by saying that the instrument of cure 
had been given tO' her father, now deceased, 
many years ago, by a great physician who 
had stopped at her father's inn. She held 
that the cures were genuine medical cures 
resulting from the medicinal virtues of the 
amulet, and not the result of magic or witch- 
craft. The Justice asked to be handed the 
wonderful amulet. Eipping it open with his 
pen-knife, he found enclosed the identical 
scrawl inserted by himself many years be- 
fore. He announced the circumstances from 
the bench, and discharged the woman— but 
the healing virtues of the amulet had disap- 
peared, never to return. The cures were the 
result of the faith and imagination of the 
patients. 

The modern instances of the several great 
** Divine Healers," such as John Alexander 
Dowie of Chicago, and Francis Schlatter of 



History of Psycho-Therapy 105 

Denver, give us additional evidence of the 
efficacy of Faith as a therapeutic agent. 
John Alexander Dowie, a Scotch preacher, 
came to America some twenty years ago, and 
instituted a new religion in which healing 
was an important feature. He claimed that 
all disease was the result of the devil, and 
that belief in God and the prayers of Dowie 
and his assistants would work the cure of 
the deviPs evil operations. Great numbers 
flocked to Dowie's standard, and thousands 
of wonderful cures were reported. His 
*^ Tabernacle'' was filled with testimonials 
and trophies from cured people. Back of 
Dowie 's pulpit were displayed many 
crutches, plaster-casts, braces, and other 
spoils wrested from the devil by Dowie and 
his aids. His experience meetings were 
thronged with persons willing and anxious 
to testify that whereas they had been afflicted 
they were now whole again. Dowie suc- 
ceeded in building up a great following all 
over the world, and had he not overreached 
himself and allowed his colossal vanity to 
overshadow his original ideas, the probabil- 
ity is that he would have founded a church 



106 Mind and Body 

wliicli would have endured for centuries. As 
it is, he was discredited and disowned by 
his followers, and his church is now but 
little more than a memory. 

Francis Schlatter, the German shoemaker 
of Denver, with his Divine Healing, was a 
well known figure in the west several years 
ago. He was undoubtedly a half -insane fa- 
natic, believing himself inspired by God to 
heal the nations. Persons flocked to him 
from afar, and he is reported to have 
healed thousands, many of whom were suf- 
fering from serious ailments. He after- 
ward disappeared, and is believed to have 
died in the desert of the far west. Students 
of Mental Suggestion and Psychic Thera- 
peutics find in the instances of Dowie and 
Schlatter merely the same underlying prin- 
ciple of Mental Healing resulting from 
faith, which is operative in all of the other 
cases mentioned. The theology, creed, theo- 
ries of methods have but little to do with 
the cures, so long as the proper degree of 
faith is induced in the mind of the patientc 
Faith in anything will work cures, providing 
it is sufficiently intense and active. 



History of Psycho-Therafy 107 

Anotlier branch of Mental Healing is seen 
in the modern schools of the ^*New Thought/' 
*^ Mental Science," *' Christian Science,'* 
and the ^^ Emmanuel Movement." The au- 
thorities generally agree upon tracing the 
rise of these several schools to the general 
interest in the subject manifested in the 
United States and Great Britain about the 
middle of the last century. Some of the au- 
thorities believe that this general interest 
was induced largely by the teachings of 
Charles Poyen, a Frenchman who came from 
France to New England about 1835, bring- 
ing with him the French teachings and theo- 
ries regarding mesmerism and the phe- 
nomena allied thereto. Poyen 's teachings 
attracted marked interest and attention, and 
he soon had a host of followers, students and 
imitators. Teachers of the **new science" 
sprang up on all sides. Many theories were 
evolved and actively supported by the ad- 
herents of the several prominent teachers. 
The rise of interest in phrenology and the 
dawning interest in spiritualism aided the 
spread of the new teachings regarding mes- 
merism, clairvoyance, psychic healing, etc., 



108 Mind and Body 

and the pages of many magazines and books 
published about that time show that a pub- 
lic taste had been created for the strange 
and mysterious. 

Dr. J. S. Grimes, a physician interested in 
phrenology, taught that the phenomena were 
due to the action of a strange atmospheric 
force which he called * * etherium. ' * Eev. J. 
Bovee Dods evolved a theory based upon the 
supposed existence of an electrical principle, 
and called his system *^ Electro-Biology, "by 
means of which he attracted to himself a 
large following. Dods wrote several large 
books on the subject, and traveled on lec- 
ture tours in this country and Great Britain, 
arousing great enthusiasm and making 
many cures. Rev. Leroy Sunderland ex- 
pounded the doctrine of ^^patlieism," in 
which he combined a strange mixture of 
mysticism and what has since been called 
''suggestion," to which he afterward added 
the current teachings of spiritualism after 
his conversion to that philosophy. It would 
seem that credit should be given Sunderland 
for his early announcement of the principle 
of suggestion, for he said: ''When a rela- 



History of Psycho-Therapy 109 

tion IS once established between an opera- 
tor and his patient, corresponding changes 
may be induced in the nervous system of the 
latter by mere volition, and hy suggestions 
addressed to either of the external senses/^ 
The decade, 1840-1850 witnessed a remark- 
able interest in psychic phenomena of all 
kinds, and during that time there was un- 
doubtedly laid the foundations upon which 
the later structures have since been erected. 
Any one reading the short stories of Poe, 
and other writers of that period, may read- 
ily see the state of public interest in these 
subjects at that time. 

The authorities generally agree that in 
Phineas Parkhurst Quimby we have the di- 
rect connecting link between the period just 
mentioned and the present. Quimby played 
quite an important role in the evolution of 
the modern conceptions of mental healing, 
or psycho-therapy as it is now called. He 
was a poor clockmaker, of quite limited 
means, of good character and a strong per- 
sonality. His education is said to have been 
limited, but he made up for his lack in this 
respect by his naturally keen and inquiring 



110 Mind and Body 

mind. In 1838 one of the teachers of mes- 
merism visited Ms home in Belfast, Maine, 
and Quimby attended the seance. He be- 
came intensely interested in what he saw, 
and in the theories propounded, and began 
to experiment on the people in his town, the 
result being that he soon acquired a reputa- 
tion as a powerful mesmerist and a good 
healer. He followed along the general lines 
of the ** Electro-Biology*' theory for a time, 
and' then evolved theories of his own. He 
cured himself and many others by manual 
treatment, and was soon kept quite busy in 
his healing work. 

Quimby, thinking deeply regarding the 
cures he was making, soon came to the con- 
clusion that while his cures were genuine, 
his theories were wrong. He gradually 
evolved the idea that diseases are caused by 
erroneous thinking, and that his cures re- 
sulted from changing these wrong mental 
states for those based upon true conceptions. 
He held that all that is required to effect a 
cure is to bring about **a change of thought.'' 
Following upon this new conception, he 
ceased mesmerizing his patients, and began 



History of Psycho-Therapy 111 

to treat them by simply sitting by the side 
of the afflicted person, picturing him as well 
and whole, and impressing upon the patient *s 
mind that he is well and whole, in Truth, 
From this fundamental idea he gradually 
evolved a philosophy which has strongly in- 
fluenced that of later schools. Quimby 
talked much regarding his great ** discov- 
ery,'* as he called it, and built great hopes 
upon establishing ''the science of health and 
happiness/' He began to speak of the 
''Truth*' in his "science," which he held to 
be identical with that taught by Christ, and 
by means of which Jesus performed his mi- 
raculous cures. Before he had firmly estab- 
lished his "science," however, he died, leav- 
ing his work to be carried on by others, 
notably by Dr. Warren F. Evans, and Julius 
A. Dresser, to whom should be given the 
credit for launching what is now known as 
"the New Thought Movement." 

Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy, who afterward 
established "Christian Science" was one of 
Quimby 's patients and students, and Dresser 
and others have positively stated and 
claimed that from him she received her 



112 Mind and Body 

ideas of the philosopliy which she afterward 
developed into the great ^^ Christian Sci- 
ence" movement. Mrs. Eddy, and her ad- 
herents, as positively deny to Quimby any 
credit for having inspired Mrs. Eddy^s 
work. "We merely state the opposing sides 
of the controversy here, taking no sides in 
the matter, the discussion not concerning us 
in the present consideration. 

The success of Evans and Dresser, and of 
Mrs. Eddy, in their respective schools and 
organizations, have caused many other 
teachers to come to the front, until at the 
present time there are many schools, cults 
and organizations basing their cures upon 
the broad principles of Mental Healing. 
Mrs. Eddy, and her followers, deny having 
anything in common with the other schools, 
however, holding that the latter are con- 
cerned with ^^ mortal mind" while ^* Chris- 
tian Science" alone is based upon Divine 
Mind, or Truth. In spite of the conflicting 
claims and theories, the fact remains that 
thousands of persons have been healed of 
various diseases by the various schools, 
cults, and teachings. To the authorities who 



History of Psycho-Therapy 113 

stand outside of and apart from these op- 
posing organizations, it seems that all the 
cures are based upon the same general prin- 
ciple, i. e.y that of the influence of mental 
states over physical conditions, and that re- 
ligious theories or metaphysical philosophies 
have nothing whatever to do with the pro- 
duction of the cures, except in the direction 
of giving a strong suggestion to those ac- 
cepting them. The fact that all the schools 
make cures, in about the same proportion, 
and of the same general classes of com- 
plaints, would seem to show that the theories 
and dogmas have nothing to do with the 
process of cure— and that the healing is done 
in spite of the theories, rather than because 
of them. 

The much advertised ''Emmanuel Move- 
ment'' now so popular in the orthodox 
churches throughout the country, is recog- 
nized by all the authorities as being noth- 
ing more than suggestion applied in connec- 
tion with the religious and theological 
principles of the churches in question, and, in 
truth, as applying methods more in favor by 
the old school of mesmerists than by the 



114 Mind and Body 

later ^^New Thought'' practitioners, or by 
the * * Christian Science ' ' healers. From this 
movement, however, there will probably 
evolve a more scientific system, manifesting 
none of the crudities which so disfigure its 
present stage, at least in the hands of some 
of its practitioners. 

In the following chapter we may see that 
the same element of Faith, Belief and Ex- 
pectancy is mamifested in all the various 
forms of Mental Healing, by whatever name, 
or under whatever theory, the method is ap- 
plied. In short, that the cures are purely 
psychological^ rather than metaphysical or 
religious, in their nature. 



CHAPTER VI 



FAITH CURES 



Following tlie scientific study of the phe- 
nomena of cures of physical illness by means 
of the power of mental states, amd the rec- 
ognition of the fact that there is a common 
principle operative under the various guises 
and forms, there sprang into scientific usage 
the term ** Faith Cures'' which was used to 
designate all instances and forms of cures 
coming under the general classification of 
mental healing. Prof. Goddard defines the 
term as follows: *'A term applied to the 
practice of curing disease by an appeal to 
the hope, belief, or expectation of the pa- 
tient, and without the use of drugs or other 
material means. Formerly it was confined 
to methods requiring the exercise of religious 
faith, such as the Sprayer cure' and 'divine 
healing,' but has now come to be used in the 
broader sense, and includes the cures of 
* Mental Science,' and hypnotism; also a 

115 



116 Mind and Body 

large part of the cures effected by patent 
medicines and nostrums, as well as many 
folk-practices and home remedies. By some 
it is used to include also Christian Science, 
but the believers in the latter regard it as 
entirely distinct.'' 

The term ** Suggestion," used in the same 
sense as '* Faith Cure" in relation to the 
healing of disease, has also come into popu- 
lar usage, but inasmuch as Suggestion has a 
much larger meaning outside of its thera- 
peutic phases, it may be said the best au- 
thorities to-day use the term ''Faith Cure" 
as representing simply one phase of Sug- 
gestion. 

Prof. Goddard, in his article on ''Faith 
Cure," in the New International Encyclo- 
paedia (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York), 
says: "Besides these recognized forms (di- 
vine healing, mental science, etc.), faith cure 
is an important element in cures wrought by 
patent medicines and nostrums, home reme- 
dies and folk practices. The advertisement, 
testimonial of friend, or family tradition 
arouses the faith of the sick man, and he 
comes to believe that he needs only to fol- 



Faith Cures 117 

low directions to be fully cured. The actual 
value of faith cure as a therapeutic method 
has been the subject of much discussion. It 
can no longer be denied that it has value. 
From divine healing to patent medicine and 
Father Kneipp's water cure, all cure dis- 
ease. Each appeals to a particular type of 
mind, but the results are practically the same 
in all — same diseases cured, same successes, 
same failures. Many faith-curists claim that 
all diseases in all persons can be cured by 
their method; others hold that the principle 
is of limited application. Of them all, the 
hypnotists are the only ones who do not 
make sweeping claims.'' 

After stating *4he tendency to exaggera- 
tion and the infrequency of impartial judg- 
ment*' in connection with many instances of 
claimed cures, the above mentioned author- 
ity proceeds as follows: ''The actual cures, 
however, are sufficiently numerous and suffi- 
ciently striking to need an explanation. 
These different forms agree in only one 
point— viz., the mental state of the patient 
is one of hope and expectation. Can states 
of mind cause or cure disease? Some fa- 



118 Mind and Body 

miliar occurrences seem to justify an affirma- 
tive answer. It is well known that certain 
glands and secretions are markedly affected 
by emotions. Fright causes the saliva to 
cease to flow and the perspiration to start. 
Sorrow causes the lachrymal glands to se- 
crete tears. Happiness favors digestion, 
unhappiness retards it. Mosso has demon- 
strated that the bladder is especially sensi- 
tive to emotional states. In general, the 
pleasant emotions produce an opposite phys- 
ical effect from the unpleasant ones. There 
are many glands within the body whose ac- 
tion under emotion we cannot observe; but 
we may reasonably assume that they also 
are affected by emotional states. Hence, if 
unpleasant emotions so act upon the glands 
as to derange the system and cause disease, 
the pleasant emotions may reasonably be as- 
sumed to tend to restore the normal func- 
tions. The various forms of faith cure tend 
strongly to put the patient in a happy frame 
of mind— a condition favorable to health. 
However, there are all degrees of faith and 
wide differences in the way the system re- 
sponds to; the emotional state. One person 



Faith Cures 119 

is slightly affected by a strong emotion; an- 
other is strongly affected by a weak emo- 
tion. Hence, there must always be a wide 
difference in the results of faith-cure meth- 
ods. The diseases most amenable to faith 
cure are nervous— including many not rec- 
ognized as nervous, but having a neural 
condition as their basis— and functional de- 
rangements. Organic diseases are not us- 
ually cured, though the symptoms are fre- 
quently ameliorated. Chronic diseases due 
to neuro-muscular habit often yield to hyp- 
notic treatment.^' 

Prof. R. P. Halleck says: ''Were it not 
for this power of the imagination, the ma- 
jority of quack nostrums would disappear. 
In most cases bread pills, properly labeled, 
with positive assurances of certain cures ac- 
companying them, would answer the purpose 
far better than these nostrums, or even much 
better than a great deal of the medicine ad- 
ministered by regular physicians. Warts 
have been charmed away by medicines which 
could have had only a mental effect. Dr. 
Tuke gives many cases of patients cured of 
rheumatism by rubbing them with a certain 



120 Mind and Body 

substance declared to possess magic power. 
The material in some cases was metal; in 
others wood; in still others, wax. He also 
recites the case of a very intelligent officer 
who had vainly taken powerful remedies to 
cure cramp in the stomach. Then ^he was 
told that on the next attack he would be put 
imder a medicine which was generally be- 
lieved to be most effective, but which was 
rarely used.' When the cramps came on 
again, *a powder containing four grains of 
ground biscuit was administered every seven 
minutes, while the greatest anxiety was ex- 
pressed (within the hearing of the party) 
lest too much be given. Half-drachm doses 
of bismuth had never procured the same relief 
in less than three hours. For four successive 
times did the same kind of attack recur, and 
four times was it met by the same remedy, 
and with like success.* A house surgeon in 
a French hospital experimented with one 
hundred patients, giving them sugared 
water. Then, with a great show of fear, he 
pretended that he had made a mistake and 
given them an emetic instead of the proper 
medicine. Dr. Tuke says: 'The result may 



Faith Cures 121 

easily be anticipated by those who can esti- 
mate the influence of the imagination. No 
fewer than eighty— four-fifths— were un- 
mistakably sick/ 

**We have a well authenticated case of a 
butcher, who, while trying to hang up a 
heavy piece of meat, slipped and was himself 
caught by the arm upon the hook. When he 
was taken to a surgeon, the butcher said he 
was suffering so much that he could not en- 
dure the removal of his coat ; the sleeve must 
be cut off. When this was done, it was 
found that the hook had passed through his 
clothing close to the skin, but had not even 
scratched it. A man sentenced to be bled 
to death was blindfolded. A harmless in- 
cision was then made in his arm and tepid 
water fixed so as to run down it and drop 
with considerable noise into a basin. The 
attendants frequently commented on the 
flow of blood and the weakening pulse. The 
criminal's false idea of what was taking 
place was as powerful in its effects as the 
reality, and he soon died. . . . There is 
perhaps not a person living who would not 
at times be benefited by a bread pill, admin- 



122 MiKD ANi> Body 

istered by some one in whom great confi- 
dence was reposed.'' 

The same authority also says: *^ It has been 
known for a long time that if the attention 
is directed toward any bodily organ, abnor- 
mal sensations may be caused in it, and dis- 
ease may be developed. The renowned Dr. 
John Hunter said: *I am confident that I can 
fix my attention to any part, until I have 
a sensation in that part. ' ' ' Dr. Tuke says 
that these * * are words which ought to be in- 
scribed in letters of gold over the entrance 
of a hospital for the Cure of Disease by Psy- 
chopathy.'' Hunter's confident assertion is 
the more interesting because, drawn from 
his own experience, it shows that the princi- 
ple is not confined in its operation to the 
susceptible and nervous, but operates even 
on men of the highest mental endowment. 
We have examples from the literature of the 
seventeenth century, showing how the ex- 
pectation of a complaint will produce it. In 
1607 an ignorant English physician told a 
clergyman's wife that she had sciatica, al- 
though there was, in reality, nothing the 
matter with her sciatic nerve. Her attention 



Faith Cures 123 

was thereby directed to it and a severe at- 
tack of sciatica was tlie result. Wlieb a 
person inexperienced in medicine reads care- 
fully the symptoms of some disease, he is 
apt to begin an attentive search for those 
symptoms and to end by fancying he has 
them. Seasick persons have been relieved of 
their nausea by being made to bail a leak- 
ing boat from the fear that it would sink. 
All their attention was thereby diverted 
from themselves. Many can recall how chil- 
dren, and grown persons, too, have forgot- 
ten all about their alleged intense thirst, as 
soon as their attention was diverted. Some 
persons, after eating something which they 
fancy is a trifle indigestible, center their at- 
tention upon the stomach, expecting symp- 
toms of indigestion, and are often not dis- 
appointed. A man who had good reason to 
fear hydrophobia, determined that he would 
not have it. The pain in the bitten arm be- 
came intense, and he saw that he must have 
something to divert his attention from the 
wound and his danger. He therefore went 
hunting, but found no game. To make 
amends, he summoned a more inflexible will 



124 Mind and Body 

and exerted at every step 'a strong mental 
effort against the disease/ He kept on 
hunting until he felt better, and he mastered 
himself so perfectly that he probably thereby 
warded off an attack of hydrophobia. Ac- 
cordingly as we center our attention upon 
one thing or another, we largely determine 
our mental happiness and hence our bodily 
health. One person, in walking through a 
noble forest, may search only for spiders, 
and venomous creatures, while another con- 
fines his attention to the singing birds in the 
branches above. One reason why travel is 
isuch a cure for diseases of body and mind 
is because so many new things thereby come 
in to claim the attention and divert it from 
its former objects. The following expres- 
sion from Dr. Tuke should be remembered: 
'Thought strongly directed to any part tends 
to increase its vascularity, and consequently 
its sensibility / *' 

Dr. 0. F. Winbigler says: ''The practi- 
tioner secures the same effects from a place- 
bo or powdered pop-corn as from some drugs 
by using suggestion with the former. Every 
successful physician has used this method 



Faith Cures 125 

at one time or another, and sometimes when 
he was utterly puzzled as to what he should 
prescribe, he thus secured a marvellous re- 
sult, and a cure of the patient was effected. 
. Every believer in Psycho-therapeu- 
tics knows that there is a psychical as well 
as a physical effect from the use of drugs. 
The psychical value is based on the expec- 
tation of their special action, and that which 
is in the physician's mind may be subtly and 
powerfully carried over into the patient 'tJ 
mind. ( The physician's personality, atti- 
tude and interest in the patient accomplishes 
vastly more than the drugs he prescribes or 
administers. If he is cheerful and hopeful, 
he gives potency to their action; if he is 
gloomy, pessimistic and hopeless, he nulli- 
fies their effects. The cure of the patient is 
effected through the subconscious mind, and 
the attitude and bearings of the physician, 
attendants, the surroundings and the medi- 
cines employed, become powerful sugges- 
tions." \ 

Prof. ^ Elmer Gates says: *'The system 
makes an effort to eliminate the metabolic 
products of tissue-waste, and it is therefore 



126 Mind and Body 

not surprising tliat during acute grief tears 
are copiously excreted; that during sudden 
fear the bowels and the kidneys are caused 
to act, that during prolonged fear, the body 
is covered with a cold perspiration ; and, that 
during anger, the mouth tastes bitter, due 
largely to the increased elimination of sul- 
pho-cyanates. The perspiration during fear 
is chemically different, and even smells dif- 
ferent from that which exudes during a hap- 
py mood. . . . Now if it can be shown 
in many ways that the elimination of waste 
products is retarded by sad and painful emo- 
tions ; nay, worse than that, these depressing 
emotions directly augment the amount of 
these poisons. Conversely, the pleasurable 
and happy emotions, during the time they 
are active, inhibit the poisonous effects of 
the depressing moods, and cause the bodily 
cells to create and store up vital energy and 
nutritive tissue products." 

In an issue of ^^The American Practitioner 
and News," is reported a discussion before 
the Lexington (Ky.) Medical and Surgical 
Society, in which a member, Dr. Guest, re- 
lated the following experience: *'I have a 



Faith Cures 127 

brotber-in-law who suffers every summer 
with hay-fever. He has a relative who be- 
lieves in Christian Science. She told him 
that she felt positive that she could direct 
him to a woman, a Christian Scientist, who 
would cure him. He at first objected, be- 
cause he hated to go to a woman physician. 
He arranged, however, to communicate with 
her daily by letter. When his hay-fever 
broke out he suffered with it all that day 
and night, and the next morning wrote her 
a note telling her to put him on treatment 
immediately. When he returned that night 
he was improved and slept better. He wrote 
a second note the next morning and was 
much encouraged. The third day he re- 
peated his letter writing and stated that the 
symptoms had almost ceased. And he was 
guying me about being cured by Christian 
Science when regular physicians could do 
nothing for him. The night of the third day, 
when he came home to supper, he found a 
note from the Christian Scientist, stating 
that she has been in the country and ivould 
put him under treatment the next day, 
Eealizing that all his treatment had been 



128 Mind and Body 

only in his imagination, the symptoms reap- 
peared with the same intensity as before." 
Dr. A. J. Parks of New York, says: **The 
absolute and complete control that the sym- 
pathetic nervous system exercises over the 
physical organization is so perfectly clear 
and well-known to every observer that the 
recital of the phenomena in the vast and 
countless series of manifestations is unnec- 
essary. We are all aware of the fact that 
digestion is promptly arrested upon the re- 
ceipt of bad news. The appetite at once dis- 
appears. It ceases, and the whole system 
feels the effect of the depressing impulse— 
the mental and spiritual wave which lowers 
the vital thermometer. Fear not only sus- 
pends the digestive function but arrests the 
formation of the secretions upon which di- 
gestion depends. A sudden fright frequent- 
ly paralyzes the heart beyond recovery, 
whereas a pleasant and pleasing message 
soothes and gently excites the whole granu- 
lar system, increases the secretions, aids di- 
gestion and sends a thrill of joy to the 
sensorium, which diffuses the glad tidings 



Faith Cures 129 

to every nerve fibril in the complex organi- 
zation. * ' 

Dr. T. A. Borton, in an address before the 
Indiana State Medical Society, said: '^The 
subject which I desire to present to you to- 
day has to do with the influence of the mind 
over the functions of the body. Its silent, 
unobserved force results in producing patho- 
logical conditions, and those, by reflex ac- 
tion, excite morbid sensibilities of the mind 
and thus derange the nerve centres, result- 
ing in a changed condition or over-excitabil- 
ity of the nerve energies, which becomes a 
secondary diseased condition in the form of 
different types of neurasthenia. I have been 
interested in this subject for many years, 
and in my practice have had extended op- 
portutnities for making observations as to 
the i>otency of the mental and suggestive 
pathology bearing on this subject. I would 
especially refer to the healing of the body 
through these mental forces, changing 
healthy, normal conditions into unhealthy or 
diseased conditions and vice versa. These 
changes are not miraculous, but proceed 
from natural causes in the operation of the 



130 Mind and Body 

mind, as a therapeutic agency, operating 
throngli tlie functions of the body, sometimes 
as a tonic or stimulant, warding off diseases 
under the most exposed conditions, defend- 
ing and holding the system in a state of 
health, while those void of these mental as- 
surances become victims to the ravages of 
disease through contagion or infection. This 
protective mental force of the mind has been 
demonstrated many times in hospitals and 
other places where contagious diseases were 
prevailing. The mental force possesses a 
protective power when rightly exercised be- 
yond what is usually conceded, not only in 
the way of defense; but also in correcting 
disease when in existence. I believe these 
to be much greater than has been generally 
admitted or understood. . . . We all 
know how difficult it is to get good results 
from medication in which our patients have 
no confidence, and it is an established fact 
that we get better results from drugs which 
are given with the patient's knowledge of 
their intended effect. I have often produced 
desired results from means entirely inert, 
stating the desired and expected effect of 



Faith Cures 131 

its administration. I have frequently quieted 
the severest pain by injecting pure water 
into the arm of the patient," 

Dr. G. R. Patton, in an address before the 
Wabasha County (Minn.) Medical Society, 
said: ^*As Bacon said, ^ Faith, confidence, be- 
lief and hope are the working forces that 
make the cure— that work the miracle.' The 
mind as a dynamic force exerted over the 
functions of the body has been, doubtless, 
operatively manifest from the cradle of our 
existence. By the phrase, 'the mind as a 
dynamic force,' I refer to the various forms 
of suggestion as well as to various affective 
faculties of the mind, or those states caused 
by the sympathetic action of the brain, such 
as faith, confidence, belief, imagination, emo- 
tions, hope and the like. Any or all of them 
may become active over the bodily functions. 
. As instance of the mental impres- 
sion acting upon observable functions re- 
vealed through the capillary circulation as 
revealed to the sight, I will mention blushing 
or pallor of the face, depending upon the 
theme presented to the thought; the mouth 
watering on the sight or thought of tempt- 



132 Mind and Body 

ing food; the flow of tears from words or 
thoughts that excite grief; nausea or vomit- 
ing from a sickening spectacle; sexual ex- 
citement from obscene thought or lascivious 
sights. Instances might be multiplied. And 
is it not a fair inference, indeed, that through 
the vasomotor nerves, the internal viscera 
may be subject to like effects through men- 
tal impressions, and that thus acute as well 
as chronic congestive ailments thereof may 
be favorably influenced or even cured there- 
by? . . . It is my conviction that recog- 
nition of the power and usefulness of men- 
tal dynamics, including all forms of sugges- 
tion over physiological and pathological 
processes in combating diseases, is unques- 
tionably the most impressive advance in 
modern medicine. Mental influence alone 
may diminish or increase the activities of 
the physiological processes to the extent of 
removing the pathological effects of disease. 
. A celebrated medical teacher, after 
an exhaustive dissertation over a case was 
leaving the bedside without prescribing any 
treatment when the house physician asked 
what should be given the patient. ' Oh, ' said 



Faith Cures 133 

the professor, *a hopeful prognosis and 
anything else you please/ To this he added, 
*the doleful doctor will be a failure, while 
the hopeful one will prove a winner from 
start to finish.' It is reasonably assured 
that ultimately the physician will become not 
so much the man behind the pill as the judi- 
cious advisor, the wise counsellor, gently lead- 
ing the sick *into green pastures, beside still 
waters,' through paths that lead onward to 
recovery, assisting nature at times, if needs 
be, with a big bread pill." 

Dr. Herbert A. Parkyn, the well-known au- 
thority on suggestive therapeutics, says: 
* ' Certain results will follow certain thoughts, 
and in every instance that it is possible to 
get the patient to think the thoughts we de- 
sire, we secure the results we desire. It is 
the work of the suggestionist to place these 
thoughts in the mind of the patient so that 
he is bound to think them, and this can be 
done to some degree, if not perfectly, (in 
every case. It is well to have faith, but faith 
is not absolutely necessary at the outset. It 
is time enough for the patient to have faith 
in the treatment when he can perceive the 



134 Mind and Body 

benefit he is receiving. Understanding tlie 
mental and physical changes which follow a 
certain thought, the suggestionist is able to 
bring about those mental or physical changes, 
by using direct suggestion in such a way 
that his patient is bound to think the 
thoughts which will produce the results. A 
man may not have faith in the statement that 
the thought of lemon juice will stimulate the 
fk)W of saliva, but if he will imagine for a 
moment that he is squeezing the juice of a 
lemon into his mouth the saliva will imme- 
diately flow more freely than usual, regard- 
less of his faith. Similarly, many, if not all 
of the organs of the body, can be affected by 
impulses following certain lines of thought, 
and these impulses will follow the thought 
and stimulate the organs regardless of faith. 
It is simply necessary to get a patient to 
think the proper thoughts, and it is in the 
thought directing that the work of the sug- 
gestionist lies.'' 



CHAPTEE VII 

THE POWER OF THE IMAGINATION 

Dr. F. W. Sonthwortli says: '*Fear is it- 
self a contagious disease and is sometimes 
reflected from one mind to another with great 
rapidity. It passes from one to another, 
from the healthy to the ill, from doctor or 
nurse to patient, from mother to child, and 
so on. The greatest fears we can usually 
get away from, but it is the little fears and 
anxieties, constant apprehension, fears of 
imagined evils of all sorts which prey upon 
our vitality and lessen our powers, thus ren- 
dering us more susceptible to disease. To 
avert disease, then, we must eradicate fear; 
but how shall we accomplish it? Through 
wise education— educating the people to a / 
higher standard of living; by teaching a 
sounder hygiene; a wiser philosophy and a 
more cheerful theology. By erasing a thou- 
sand errors and superstitions from fear- 
ful minds and pointing them to the light, 

135 



136 Mind and Body 

beauty and loveliness of tlie trntli. This 
mental and moral sanitation is still ahead of 
ns, but it is more valuable and desirable than 
all quarantines, inventions, experiments, and 
microscopical researches after physical or 
material causes." 

Sir George Paget, M. D., says: *^In many 
cases I have seen reasons for believing that 
cancer has had its origin in prolonged anxi- 
etj." Dr. Murchison says: '*I have been 
surprised to find how often patients with 
primary cancer of the liver have traced the 
cause of this illness to protracted grief and 
anxiety. These cases have been far too nu- 
merous to be accounted for as merely coin- 
cidents. ' ' Sir B. W. Eichardson, M. D., says : 
** Eruptions of the skin frequently follow ex- 
cessive mental strain. In all these, as well 
as in cancer, epilepsy and mania, the cause 
is frequently partly or wholly mental. It is 
remarkable how little the question of the 
origin of physical disease from mental in- 
fluences has been studied." Prof. Elmer 
Gates says: ^*My experiments show that 
irascible, malevolent and depressing emo- 
tions generate in the system injurious com- 



Power of the Imagination 137 

pounds, some of which are extremely poison- 
ous. Also that agreeable, happy emotions 
generate chemical compounds of nutritious 
value which stimulate the cells to manufac- 
ture energy/' 

Dr. Patton, in the address before the Wa- 
basha County Medical Society, above men- 
tioned, gives the following interesting case 
of the effect of faith and expectant atten- 
tion, or Suggestion: He said: '^ While sur- 
geon of a Cincinnati hospital one of the mes- 
senger boys was often disobedient of orders. 
The sister superior once asked me how to 
punish him. I suggested putting him to bed 
and making him sick with medicine. My ad- 
vice was acted upon with alacrity. A tea- 
spoonful of colored ivater was given him 
every fifteen minutes. With assumed grav- 
ity, I ordered the nurse, in the boy's pres- 
ence, to keep giving the medicine until he be- 
came sick and vomited. Within an hour he 
vomited profusely. ... A funny inci- 
dent illustrative of the faith and confidence 
sometimes reposed in the medical man and 
his power in curing disease, happened in 
my first year of practice. An Irish laborer, 



138 Mind and Body 

mncli given to profanity, came to my office, 
with a cold on his chest. I prescribed a 
soothing mixture and a liniment of cam- 
phor, ammonia and soap. A few days later, 
meeting him on the street, I asked him if the 
medicine had cured him all right. He re- 
plied with enthusiasm, * Oh ! yes, yes, it acted 

most beautifully and cured me pretty d d 

quick, but it was awful hot stuff, for it 
btirned in my throat like hell-fire itself.' I 
knew at once, but did not tell him, that he 
had been swallowing the liniment of cam- 
phor, hartshorn and soap, and rubbing the 
cough mixture on the outside. His faith was 
even stronger than the liniment, and cured 
him in spite of the blunder. 

** Perhaps the most wonderful confirma,- 
tion came under my observation while win- 
tering in San Antonio, Texas, in 1880. Some 
nostrum fakirs with a retinue of fourteen 
musicians and comedians came to this city 
in an immense chariot, drawn by eight gaily 
caparisoned horses. Every evening they 
came upon the military plaza to sell their 
panacea. I went over one evening out of 
curiosity, being attracted by the songs and 



POWEE OF THE IMAGINATION 139 

nmsic. The head fakir was shouting to an 
immense crowd about the virtues of his spe- 
cific. He claimed that it contained thirteen in- 
gredients, gathered at a great expense from 
all quarters of the globe, and would cure all 
the ills that flesh was heir to. Cures were 
warranted in every case, or the money re- 
funded on the following evening. After this 
harangue, he said that the medicine was for 
sale at $1 per bottle, until 300 bottles had 
been sold, as it was an invariable rule to sell 
only that number on any one evening. Im- 
mediately a frenzied mob rushed pell-mell 
to the end of the chariot, each one holding 
aloft a silver dollar. He had previously an- 
nounced that no change would be made, and 
that every one to get the medicine should 
have a dollar ready in his hand. In half an 
hour 300 bottles had been sold, the empty 
trunk closed with a bang, and the statement 
made that no more could be had until the 
following evening, although there was yet a 
great multitude clamoring for more. Curi- 
osity again led me to the plaza the next 
evening, and I went early. The initial per- 
formance was a free tooth-pulling, to last 



140 Mind and Body 

thirty minutes. He said lie was the king- 
pin of the tooth-pullers, and I believe he 
was. The rapidity of his work was a marvel. 
He snatched from various jaws about 250 
teeth, including the good ones, within the 
limit, throwing them from his forceps right 
and left among his audience. Those oper- 
ated upon were wrought to such a frenzy 
of excitement and wonder that each one, 
without an exception, declared that no pain 
whatever had been experienced. A call was 
•then made for the 300 who had bought medi- 
cine on the previous evening to mount the 
chariot and tell what the medicine had done 
for them. 

'^From every quarter men and women, 
both white and colored, pressed forward to 
give their experience. Their stories were 
grotesque and curious enough., but no mat- 
ter what their ailments, cures had resulted in 
every case. At the end of half an hour, 
while the experience meeting was at its acme, 
the fakir abruptly closed it, saying, in a re- 
gretful voice, that the rest would have to 
wait until the next evening to tell of their 



Power of the Imagination 141 

cures, as he now wanted those to come for- 
ward who had not been cured by the medi- 
cine bought on the previous evening. He 
stood in silence with folded arms for three 
minutes. No one having come forward, the 
voice of this arrant charlatan rang out in 
stentorian tones, 'All, all have been cured! 
We have cured everyone!' Then another 
300 bottles were sold in a jiify, I myself 
being one of the fortunate purchasers. The 
chief of this outfit stopped in the hotel where 
I was. After dinner the next day, I made 
his acquaintance in the smoking room, say- 
ing I was a doctor, too ; that I had attended 
two of his soirees, bought his medicine and 
was greatly interested in it. I surprised him 
by the statement that his medicine was made 
by M. & Co., wholesale druggists of Cincin- 
nati, and that it was fluid extract of podo- 
phyllin. He stared for some moments, but 
made no reply. I continued, *I know M.'s 
fluid extract, as his process of its manufac- 
ture is peculiar, and differs from other man- 
ufacturers in this, that he exhausts the root 
by percolation with alcohol, ether and gly- 
cerine, giving the product a sweetish taste 



142 Mind and Body 

and a slight ethereal odor/ The man asked 
if I was also a chemist. I replied, *Yes, I 
once lectured in a medical college in Cin- 
cinnati on drugs and their uses, and I can 
readily tell fluid extracts by their taste, odor 
and physical characteristics.' 

'* After some hesitation, he said, *Yes, this 
is M.'s podophyllin and nothing else, I in- 
quired if he attributed all his success to the 
medicine. He answered, ^No, for once in 
Missouri the mandrake ran out before a new 
let arrived. We found something like it in a 
drug store of the town, and the people got 
well just the same. If the people believe 
you can cure them, and have faith in your 
medicine, they get well anyway, or they 
think they do, which is the same thing/ 
The fakirs remained one week, sold 2,100 bot- 
tles, and presumably cured 2,100 people, as 
no one came forward to reclaim his dollar 
for the medicine, which was contained in a 
two-drachm vial of 120 drops. A dose was 
one drop after each meal in one spoonful of 
water. 

*^When I was in California recently a 
friend mentioned that an intelligent relative 



Power of the Imagination 143 

of his was being treated by a celebrated 
Cliinese doctor. The relative claimed that 
Chinese physicians were better than our 
own; that they had devoted 5,000 years to 
medicine and had thus become so learned and 
skillful that they could tell all diseases with- 
out asking a single question, simply by feel- 
ing the pulse. Out of curiosity I visited this 
physician, ostensibly as a patient. Without 
so declaring myself, he knew intuitively that 
I came to consult him. Without asking any 
questions he placed his finger upon my right 
wrist, communed with himself for a few 
moments, and then gravely informed me that 
I had thirty-seven diseases; some in the 
blood, some in the brain, some in the kidneys, 
some in the liver, and many others in the 
heart and lungs. He said it would take six- 
teen different herbs to cure me. He volun- 
teered the statement that he could detect 
6,000 diseases by the pulse alone, and that 
he used 400 herbs in the treatment of the 
various diseases. Upon his request, I ex- 
amined his portfolio containing 350 testi- 
monials of marvellous cures, wrought upon 
American residents of California during his 



144 Mind and Body 

seventeen years ' practice on the coast. M§iny 
of them were from parties of intelligence 
and eminence, and were so extraordinary 
that nothing short of their being attested by 
numerous witnesses of unimpeachable ver- 
acity, could satisfy one of their truth. Now, 
permit me to say that I have no pulse in the 
right wrist, the pulse being congenitally ab- 
sent ; but through it he made the pretense of 
locating so many diseases. This doubtless is 
the form and character of medical practice 
in China among the native Chinamen, and 
probably has been for many centuries among 
a population of 400,000,000. Is not the logic 
from the above facts irresistible, that in 
China the native physician cannot tell one 
disease from another, and that all his work 
is simply nonsense and guess work? There 
can be no escape from this conclusion— it 
follows as lucidly as a demonstrated prob- 
lem in "Eudid—that any benefit that may 
ever accrue from their treatment is wholly 
due to the dynamic force of the brain upon 
the functions of the body.'' 

The following, from a Philadelphia jour- 
nal, gives a striking illustration of the fact 



Power of the Imagination 145 

that the imagination is a real factor in many 
cases of physical aihnent: *^The fact that 
the throes of the imagination under great 
nervous excitement often produce a corre- 
sponding physical frenzy was illustrated re- 
cently in the case of a man who had gone to 
sleep with his artificial teeth in his mouth. 
Waking suddenly with a choking sensation, 
he found his teeth had disappeared. He 
looked in the glass of water where they were 
usually deposited, did not see them and real- 
ized they must he far down his throat. Chok- 
ing and struggling, he hammered on the door 
of a friend sleeping in the house, who, see- 
ing his critical condition, vainly tried to 
draw the teeth out of the sufferer's throat. 
He could feel the teeth, but had not the 
strength to extract them. He ran for a 
blacksmith who lived a few doors away, but 
the blacksmith's hand was too big to put into 
the man's mouth. A doctor had been sent 
for, but he was so long in coming that the 
victim of the accident seemed likely to die 
of suffocation before the physician arrived. 
A little girl of ten years was brought under 
the impression that her small hand might 



146 Mind and Body 

reacli the obstacle and withdraw it, but she 
got frightened and began to cry. The suf- 
ferer became black in the face, his throat 
swelled out, and his friends expected every 
moment to be his last, when finally the doc- 
tor arrived. He heard the history of the 
case, saw that the teeth were not in the man's 
jaws nor in their nightly receptacle, felt the 
throat and cast his eyes seriously upon the 
floor. There, on the floor, he saw the 
whole set of teeth. He adjusted them to 
^the jaws of the patient, told him to breathe 
freely, and every symptom of suffocation 
disappeared. ' ' 

The following from an Eastern journal il- 
lustrates another phase of the subject: '*Salt- 
petriere, the hospital for nervous diseases, 
made famous by the investigations of Dr. 
Charcot, has an interesting case of religious 
mania. The patient, who is a woman of 
about forty years of age, entertains the be- 
lief that she is crucified, and this delusion 
has caused a contraction of the muscles of 
the feet of such a nature that she can walk 
only on tip-toe. The patient, moreover, is 



Power of the Imagination 147 

subject occasionally to the still more extraor- 
dinary manifestation— that of * stigmata.' 
Instances of * stigmata' are tolerably fre- 
quent in the * Lives of the Saints' of alleged 
supernatural marks on the body in imitation 
of the wounds of Christ. These * stigmata' 
have been observed beyond all question on 
the woman at the Saltpetriere. Their ap- 
pearance on the body coincides with the re- 
turn of the most solemn religious anniver- 
saries. These 'stigmata' are so visible that 
it has been possible to photograph them. The 
doctors of the Saltpetriere in order to assure 
themselves that these manifestations were 
not the result of trickery, contrived a sort 
of shade having a glass front and metal 
sides, and capable of being hermetically at- 
tached to the body by means of India rub- 
ber fixings. These shades were placed in 
position a considerable time before the dates 
at which the stigmata are wont to appear. 
When they were affixed there were no marks 
whatever on the patient's body, but at the 
expected period the * stigmata' were visible 
as usual through the glass." 
In a Southern journal there is reported an 



148 Mind and Body 

interesting case, in whicih a New Orleans 
physician tells tiie following story: ^* A ner- 
vous man recently called on me and asked, 
'In what part of the abdomen are the pre- 
monitory pains of appendicitis felt?' On 
the left side, exactly here,' I replied, indi- 
cating a spot a little above the point of the 
hip-bone. He went out, and next afternoon 
I was summoned in hot haste to the St. 
Charles hotel. I found the planter writhing 
on his bed, his forehead beaded with sweat, 
•and his whole appearance indicating intense 
suffering. ^I have an attack of appendicitis,' 
he groaned, * and I'm a dead man ! I'll never 
survive an operation!' 'Where do you feel 
the pain?' I asked. 'Oh, right here,' he re- 
plied, putting his finger on the spot I had 
located at the office. 'I feel as if somebody 
had a knife in me turning it around.' 'Well, 
then, it isn't appendicitis, at any rate,' I 
said cheerfully, ^because it is the wrong side/ 
'The wrong side!' he exclaimed, glaring at 
me indignantly. 'Why, you told me your- 
self it was on the left side!' 'Then I must 
have been abstracted,' I replied calmly; 'I 



Power of the Imagination 149 

should have said the right side.' I pre- 
scribed something that wouldn't hurt him, 
and learned afterward that he ate his dinner 
in the dining-room the same evening. Oh! 
yes; he was no doubt in real pain when I 
called, but you can make your finger ache 
merely by concentrating your attention on it 
for a feu; moments.'^ 

Frank F. Moore, in ^^A Journalist's Note 
Book" tells the following amusing and sig- 
nificant story of the influence of imagination 
upon health. ^^A young civil servant in In- 
dia, feeling fagged from the excessive heat 
and from long hours of work consulted the 
best doctor within reach. The doctor looked 
him over, sounded his heart and lungs, and 
then said gravely: ^I will write you tomor- 
row. ' The next day the young man received a 
letter telling him that his left lung was gone 
and his heart seriously affected, and advis- 
ing him to lose no time in adjusting his busi- 
ness affairs. *0f course, you may live for 
weeks,' the latter said, ^but you had best 
not leave important matters undecided.' 
Naturally the young official was dismayed 
by so dark a prognosis— nothing less than a 



150 Mind and Body 

deatli warrant. Within twenty-four hours 
lie was having difficulty with his respiration, 
and was seized with an acute pain in the 
region of the heart. He took to his bed with 
the feeling that he should never rise from 
it. During the night he became so much 
worse that his servant sent for the doctor. 
* What on earth have you been doing to your- 
self?' demanded the doctor. * There were no 
indications of this sort when I saw you yes- 
terday!' *It is my heart, I suppose,' weak- 
ly answered the patient. ^Your heart!' re- 
peated the doctor. ^ Your heart was all right 
yesterday.' ^My lungs, then.' ^What is the 
matter with you, man? You don't seem to 
have been drinking!' *Your letter,' gasped 
the patient. ^You said I had only a few 
weeks to live.' ^Are you crazy!' said the 
doctor. ^I wrote you to take a few weeks 
vacation in the hills, and you would be all 
right.' For reply the patient drew the let- 
ter from under the bedclothes and gave it to 
the doctor. * Heavens ! ' cried that gentleman 
as he glanced at it. ^ This was meant for an- 
other man! My assistant has mixed up the 
letters.' The young man at once sat up in 



Power of the Imagination 151 

bed and made a rapid recovery. And what 
of the patient for whom the direful prog- 
nosis was intended? Delighted with the re- 
port that a sojourn in the hills would set 
him right, he started at once, and five years 
later was alive and in fair health.'' 

The following is clipped from a medical 
journal: ^^Some physician makes use of this 
suggestive phrase— ^ the dynamic power of an 
idea,' and, as an illustration of what is meant 
by this expression, the following incident is 
related. Not long ago a man in taking medi- 
cine was suddenly possessed by the notion 
that he had by mistake taken arsenic. His 
wife insisted to the contrary, but he pro- 
ceeded to manifest all the peculiar symp- 
toms of arsenical poisoning, and finally died. 
So certain was his wife that he had not taken 
arsenic that an autopsy was held, when not 
an atom of the poison could be found. Of 
what did this man die? Arsenic! No, of 
the dynamic power of an idea or arsenic. 
Happily for humanity this dynamic power of 
ideas works constructively no less certainly 
than it does destructively, and an idea of 
health fixed in the consciousness and persis- 



152 Mind and Body 

tently adhered to would tend to bring the 
best results. Over a hundred years ago, old 
John Hunter said, ^As the state of mind 
is capable of producing disease, another 
state of it may effect a cure/ " 

Dr. William C. Prime relates the follow- 
ing case in his book *^ Among the Northern 
Hills." *^The judge was summoned in a 
hurry to see an old lady who had managed 
her farm for forty years since her husband's 
death. She had two sons, and a stepson, 
John, who was not an admirable person. 
After a long drive on a stormy night the 
judge found the old lady apparently just 
alive, and was told by the doctor in attend- 
ance to hurry, as his patient was very weak. 
The judge brought paper and ink with him. 
He found a stand and a candle, placed them 
at the head of the bed, and after saying a 
few words to the woman, told her he was 
ready to prepare the will if she would go on 
and tell him what she wanted him to do. He 
wrote the introductory phrase rapidly, and 
leaning over toward her said, ^Now, go on, 
Mrs. Norton.' 

^*Her voice was quite faint, and she 



Power of the Imagination 153 

seemed to speak with an effort. She said: 
'First of all, I want to give the farm to my 
sons, Harry and James. Jnst put that 
down.' 'But,' said the judge, 'you can't do 
that, Mrs. Norton. The farm isn't yours to 
give away.' 'The farm isn't mine!' she said 
in a voice decidedly stronger than before. 
'No, the farm isn't yours. You have only a 
life interest in it.' 'This farm that I've 
run for goin' on forty- three year next spring 
isn't mine to do with what I please with it! 
Why not. Judge I'd like to know what you 
mean!' 'Why, Mr. Norton, your hus- 
band, gave you a life estate in all his 
property, and on your death the farm 
goes to his son, John, and your chil- 
dren get the village houses. I have ex- 
plained that to you very often before.' 'And 
when I die, John Norton is to have this 
house and farm whether I will or not?' 'Just 
so. It will be his.' 'Then I ain't goin' to 
die!' said the old woman, in a clear and de- 
cidedly ringing and healthy voice. And so 
saying, she threw her feet over the front of 
the bed, sat up, gathered a blanket and cover- 
let about her, straightened her gaunt form, 



154 Mind and Body 

walked across the room and sat down in a 
great chair before the fire. 

**The doctor and the judge went home. 
That was fifteen years ago. The old lady is 
alive to-day. And she accomplished her in- 
tent. She heat John after all. He died four 
years ago." 



CHAPTER Vin 

BELIEF AND SUGGESTION 

The writer has been informed by a promi- 
nent physician of Chicago, that for many 
years he has been in the habit of administer- 
ing hypodermic injections of distilled water, 
accompanying the same by the statement 
that he is injecting morphine. He states 
that in every case, he has succeeded in in- 
ducing a quiet, peaceful sleep, and a cessa- 
tion of pain after the injection, which can 
be attributed only to the belief of the patient. 
The same physician also relates the case of 
a woman who believed that she had taken 
strychnine by mistake. When the doctor 
was called he found the woman manifesting 
every symptom of strychnine poisoning, 
even down to the most minute details, and 
he is of the opinion that death would have 
ensued in a short time had he not proceeded 
to administer the regular antidotes and re-- 
storative treatment. After the woman was 

155 



156 Mind and Body 

brought out of tlie condition, it was discov- 
ered that the supposed strychnine was 
nothing but a harmless powder. In relating 
the case, the physician always adds that the 
woman had witnessed the death struggles of 
a dog which had been poisoned by strych- 
nine several months previous, which might 
have had some effect in enabling her to un- 
consciously counterfeit the symptoms. 

Dr. Max Eastman, in a recent magazine 
article says: *^The mission of this paper is 
io offer guidance in a matter about which a 
great quantity of the general public is very 
much at sea. In this question of ^mind over 
matter,' the reformers have done their work. 
They have stirred things up. They have be- 
stowed upon the world about a hundred and 
fifty little religions and a confused idea that 
there must be some truth in the matter some- 
where. The ignorant have done their work. 
They have persecuted the believers, jeered at 
them, or damned them with a vacuous smile. 
The world will never lack ballast. It is only 
the scientists that have failed of their duty. 
They have stalked through a routine of ele- 
vated lectures, written a few incomprehen- 



Belief and Suggestion 157 

sible books, and kept the science of psychol- 
ogy, so far as the hungry world goes, sealed 
up in their own proud bosoms. In all this 
uproar of faith-cures, and miracles, and 
shouting prophets, we have heard few il- 
luminating words from the universities. 
The consequence is that we are without a 
helm, and the reform blows now one way and 
now another. . . . 

**The law of suggestion, which is one of 
the great discoveries of modern science, was 
first formulated by Dr. Liebault at Paris, in 
a book published in 1866. Since his day the 
number of physicians who practice ^sug- 
gestive therapeutics' has steadily increased, 
until to-day no thorough clinical hospital is 
without a professional suggestionist. The 
practice does not involve any metaphysical 
theories, the passage of any hidden force 
from one brain to another, any 'planes of 
existence,' or any religious upset, or any 
poetic physiolog}', or the swallowing of any 
occult doctrines whatever. It is one of the 
simplest and coolest of scientific theories. 
It is a question of the relation between the 
brain and the bodily organs. It seems never 



158 Mind and Body 

to have been clearly stated that healing dis- 
ease by suggestion depends not in the least 
degree upon any theory of the relation of 
mind and matter. . . . The attempt to 
fix an idea in the mind without reason is sug- 
gestion. It is accomplished usually in medi- 
cal practice by asking the patient to lie 
down and relax his body and his mind and 
then vigorously stating to him the desired 
idea. It may be accomplished in a number 
of ways. The patient may be told that the 
pperator is a wizard and is about to trans- 
fer an idea from his own mind to that of the 
patient. If the patient believes him he will 
very likely accept the idea. It may be ac- 
complished by gestures or incantations which 
the patient regards with superstitious awe, 
provided it is explained beforehand what 
these gestures are meant to produce. It may 
be accomplished by telling the patient he has 
no body, and sitting with him for awhile in 
spir'itual silence, provided he knows what 
to expect. 

''All these methods, if one Relieves in 
them, are good, and they prove by their suc- 
cess the law of suggestion. But the method 



Belief and Suggestion 159 

that is based on a sure truth is the method 
of the scientist. He reasons with his patient, 
he stirs in him what moral or religious en- 
thusiasm he can, and to these means he adds 
tactfully the subtle suggestive powers of his 
own presence and eloquence. This force, to- 
gether with the power which is revealed in 
a man of correcting his own mental habits, 
is the greatest practical discovery of mod- 
ern psychology. . . . Suggestive thera- 
peutics is the use of suggestion to fix in the 
mind ideas of healthy mental habits. . . . 
' * Our question is : can the physical condi- 
tions of the brain affect the physical condi- 
tion of the stomach? We know that the 
brain-building condition which accompanies 
the idea of raising our hand can affect the 
condition of the muscles of our arm— and we 
call that a voluntary function. Now the 
question is whether the brain condition which 
accompanies the idea of enlivening our 
stomach can have an effect upon that in- 
voluntary function. Experiments with sug- 
gestion have proved that in some cases it 
can, if it continues long enough. Persons of 
a very suggestible nature, can, for instance, 



160 Mind and Body 

by concentrating tlieir mind upon a certain 
part of the body, increase the flow of blood 
to that part, although the regulation of blood 
flow is supposed to be entirely involuntary. 
The action of the heart, also the movements 
of the digestive organs particularly, and of 
the organs of elimination, are almost direct- 
ly affected in suggestible persons by that 
change in their brains which accompanies 
certain ideas. . . . Science has estab- 
lished then, that suggestion can effect to some 
extent, the so-called involuntary functions of 
the body; but the extent or limitation of 
these effects is by no means determined. It 
could not be determined scientifically with- 
out years of diligent experiment and tabu- 
lation. Any dogmatic statement upon one 
side or the other of that question, is there- 
fore premature and against the spirit of 
science. ' ' 

Dr. Leith, in his Edinburgh lectures in 
1896, said: **I am inclined to doubt whether 
the benefits of Nauheim (a treatment for the 
heart) is not after all to be explained large- 
ly, if not entirely, by the influence of the 
mental factor." Tuke says that: ''John 



Belief and Suggestion 161 

Hunter says he was subject to spasm of his 
* vital parts' when anxious about an event; 
as, for instance, whether his bees would 
swarm or not, whether the large cat he was 
anxious to kill would get away before he 
could get the gun. After death it was found 
that he had some heart disease. 
Lord Eglinton told John Hunter how, when 
two soldiers were condemned to be shot, it 
was arranged the one who threw the number 
with the dice should be reprieved; the one 
who proved successful generally fainted, 
while the one to be shot remained calm.'* 
Dr. Schofield says: ^^ During the rush of 
Consumptives to Berlin for inoculation by 
Dr. Koch's tuberculin, a special set of symp- 
toms were observed to follow the injection 
and were taken as being diagnostic of the 
existence of tuberculosis; among others, a 
rise of temperature after so many hours. 
These phenomena were eagerly looked for 
by the patients, and occurred accurately in 
several who were injected with pure water. 
The formation of blisters full of serum from 
the application of plain stamp and other 



162 Mind and Body 

paper to various parts of the bodies of pa- 
tients in the hypnotic state, is well attested 
and undoubtedly true." 

Dr. Krafft-Ebing has produced a rise 
from 37 degrees centigrade to 38.5 degrees 
centigrade in patients by fixing their minds 
by suggestion. In the same way Bine t low- 
ered the temperature 10 degrees centigrade. 
The latter authority says: **How can it be, 
when one merely says to the patient: ^Your 
hand will become cold ' and the vaso-motor 
system answers by constricting the artery? 
C^est ce que depasse notre imagination/' 
Schofield commenting on the above, says: 
** Indeed there is no way of accounting for 
such a phenomena but by freely admitting 
the presence of unconscious psychic forces 
in the body, capable of so influencing the 
structures of the body as to produce physi- 
cal changes." Tuke says: **A lady saw a 
child in immediate danger of having its 
ankle crushed by an iron gate. She was 
greatly agitated, but could not move, owing 
to intense pain coming on in her correspond- 
ing ankle. She walked home with difficulty, 
took off her stocking and found a circle 



Belief and Suggestion 163 

around the ankle of a light red color, with a 
large red spot on the outer side. By the 
morning her whole foot was inflamed, and 
she had to remain in bed for some days. 
A young woman witnessing the lancing of 
an abscess in the axilla immediately felt pain 
in that region, followed by inflammation. 
Dr. Marmise of Bordeaux tells us of a lady^s 
maid, who when the surgeon put his lancet 
into her mistress's arm to bleed her, felt the 
prick in her own arm, and shortly after 
there appeared a bruise at the spot.'' 

It is related that St. Francis d'Assisi dwelt 
so long in concentrated meditation upon the 
thought and picture of the Crucifixion that 
he suffered intense pain in his hands and 
feet, at the points corresponding to the place 
of the nails in the hands and feet of Christ, 
which was afterward followed by marked in- 
flammation at those points, terminating in 
actual ulceration. The phenomena of the 
stigmata in the cases of religious enthu- 
siasts and fanatics has been mentioned else- 
where in this book. Prof. Barrett says of 
the phenomenon: ^^It is not so well known, 
but it is nevertheless the fact, that utterly 



164 Mind and Body 

startling physiological changes can be pro- 
duced in a hypnotized subject merely by con- 
scious or unconscious mental suggestion. 
Thus a red scar or a painful burn, or even a 
figure of a definite shape, such as a cross or 
an initial, can be caused to appear on the 
body of the entranced subject solely through 
suggesting the idea. By creating some local 
disturbance of the blood-vessel in the skin, 
the unconscious self has done what would be 
impossible for the conscious to perform. 
'And so in the well-attested cases of stig- 
mata, where a close resemblance to the 
wounds of the body of the crucified Saviour 
appears on the body of the ecstatic. This is 
a case of unconscious self-suggestion, aris- 
ing from the intent and adoring gaze of the 
ecstatic upon the bleeding figure on the 
crucifix. ' ' 

Dr. Schofield says: **The breath is altered 
by the emotions. The short quiet breath of 
joy contrasts with the long sigh of relief 
after breathless suspense. Joy gives eup- 
noea or easy breathing, grief or rather fear 
tends to dyspnoea or difficult breathing. 
Sobbing goes with grief, laughter with joy, 



Belief and Suggestion 165 

and one often merges into the other. Yawn- 
ing is produced by pure idea or by seeing it, 
as well as by fatigue. Dr. Morton Prince 
says a lady he knew always had violent ca- 
tarrh in the nose (hay fever) if a rose was 
in the room. He gave her an artificial one and 
the usual symptoms followed. How many 
cases of hay-fever have a somewhat similar 
origin in the unconscious mind? 
The hair may be turned grey and white by 
emotion in a few hours or sooner. With re- 
gard to the stomach and digestion, apart 
from actual disease, we may notice one or two 
instances of unconscious mind action. A 
man who was very sea-sick lost a valuable 
set of artificial teeth overboard, and was in- 
stantly cured. If the thoughts are strongly 
directed to the intestinal canal, as by bread- 
pills, it will produce strong peristaltic action. 
Vomiting occurs from mental causes, apart 
from organic brain disease. Bad news will 
produce nausea; emotion also, or seeing an- 
other person vomit, or certain smells or 
ideas, or thoughts about a sea-voyage, etc., 
or the thought that an emetic has been taken. 
. . . The thought of an acid fruit will fill 



166 Mind and Body 

the moutli with water. A successful way of 
stopping discordant street music is to suck 
a lemon within a full view of a German band. 
Fear will so dry the throat that dry rice can- 
not be swallowed. This is a test in India 
for the detection of a murderer. The sus- 
pected man is brought forward and given a 
handful of dry rice to swallow. If he can do 
this he is innocent; if he cannot he is guilty, 
fear having dried up his mouth. 
A young lady who could not be cured of 
"vomiting was engaged to be married. On 
being told that the wedding day must be 
postponed till cured, the vomiting ceased. 
. . . A mother nursing her child always 
found the milk secreted when she heard the 
child crying for any length of time. Fear 
stops the secretion of milk, and worry will 
entirely change its character, so as to be- 
come absolutely injurious to the child.'' 

Maudsley says: *' Perhaps we do not as 
physicians consider sufficiently the influence 
of mental states in the production of dis- 
ease, their importance as symptoms; or real- 
ize all the advantages which we take of them 
in our efforts to cure disease. Quackery 



Belief and Suggestion 167 

seems to have got hold of a truth which legit- 
imate medicine fails to appreciate or use 
adequately.'' Dr. Buckley says: **A doctor 
was called to see a lady with severe rheuma- 
tism, and tried to extemporize a vapor bath 
in bed, with an old tin pipe and a tea-ket- 
tle; and only succeeded in scalding the pa- 
tient with the boiling water proceeding from 
the overful kettle through the pipe. The 
patient screamed; ^Doctor, you have scalded 
me,' and leaped out of bed. But the rheu- 
matism was cured, and did not return." 
Tuke relates an amusing instance of the 
effect of suggestion and faith upon warts. 
He had been considering the subject of the 
various *^pow-wows" or ^^ wart-cures" of the 
old women, and determined to try some ex- 
periments in order to see whether these 
cures were not due simply to mental in- 
fluences and expectant attention. On an 
official tour he visited an asylum, where he 
was regarded as a great personage by rea- 
son of his ofi&ce. He noticed that several of 
the inmates were afflicted with warts, and 
muttering a few words over the excresences, 
he told the owners that by such and such a 



168 Mind and Body 

day the warts would have completely disap- 
peared. He forgot the circumstances, owing 
to the press of his official duties, and was 
agreeably surprised when, on his next round 
of visits, he was told that his patients had 
been cured at the time he had predicted. 
Nearly everyone has had some personal ac- 
quaintance with some of these *^pow-wow'' 
wart cures, in one form or another. Tying 
a knot in a piece of cord, then rubbing the 
wart with it, and burying the string, has 
cured thousands of cases of warts— the sug- 
gestion being the real cause behind the mask. 
Ferassi cured fifty cases of ague by a 
charm, which consisted merely of a piece of 
paper with the word ^^ Febrifuge" written 
on it. The patient was directed to clip off 
one letter of the word each day imtil cured. 
Some patients recovered as soon as the first 
^^F" was clipped from the paper. The 
writer hereof knows personally of a num- 
ber of people having been cured of fever 
and ague by means of a written ''charm" 
which an old man in Philadelphia sold them 
at a dollar a copy. The old man informed 
him that he, ''and his father before him" 



Belief and Suggestion 169 

had cured thousands of people in this way, 
making a comfortable living from the prac- 
tice. Dr. Gerbe, of Paris, cured 401 out 
of 629 cases of toothache by masked sugges- 
tion administered in the form of causing the 
patients to crush a small insect between their 
fingers, after having strongly impressed 
upon them the fact that this was an infal- 
lible cure. 

Dr. Schofield reports the following inter- 
esting cases of cures by auto-suggestion and 
faith: **A surgeon took into a hospital ward 
some time ago, a little boy who had kept his 
bed for five years, having hurt his spine in 
a fall. He had been all the time totally par- 
alyzed in the legs, and could not feel when 
they were touched or pinched; nor could he 
move them in the least degree. After care- 
ful examination, the doctor explained min- 
utely to the boy the awful nature of the elec- 
tric battery, and told him to prepare for its 
application the next day. At the same time 
he showed him a sixpence, and sympathiz- 
ing with his state, told him that the sixpence 
should be his if, notwithstanding, he should 
have improved enough the next day to walk 



170 Mind and Body 

leaning on and pushing a chair, which would 
also save the need of the battery. In two 
weeks the boy was running races in the park, 
and his cure was reported in the ^Lancet,' 
. . .A young lady who had taken ether 
three and a half years before, on the inhaler 
being held three inches away from the face, 
and retaining a faint odor of ether, went 
right off, and becoming unconscious without 
any ether being used or the inhaler touch- 
ing her face. A woman was brought on a 
.couch into a London hospital by two ladies, 
who said she had been suffering from incur- 
able paralysis of the spine for two years, 
and having exhausted all their means in 
nursing her, they now sought to get her ad- 
admitted, pending her removal to a home 
for incurables. In two hours I had cured 
her by agencies which owed all their virtue 
to their influence on the mind, and I walked 
with the woman half a mile up and down the 
waiting-room, and she then returned home 
in an omnibus, being completely cured. An 
amusing case is that of a paralyzed girl, 
who on learning that she had secured the af- 
fections of the curate, who used to visit her, 



Belief and Suggestion 171 

got out of bed and walked— cured; and soon 
afterwards made an excellent pastor's wife. 
A remarkable instance of this sort of cure 
is that of a child afflicted with paralysis, 
who was brought up from the country tO' 
Paris to the Hotel Dieu. The child, who had 
heard a great deal of the wonderful metrop- 
olis, its magnificent hospitals, its omnipo- 
tent doctors, and their wonderful cures, was 
awe- struck, and so vividly impressed with 
the idea that such surroundings must have 
a curative influence, that the day after her 
arrival she sat up in bed much better. The 
good doctor just passed around, but had not 
time to treat her till the third day ; by which 
time when he came round she was out of 
bed, walking about the room, quite restored 
by the glimpses she had got of his majestic 
iDresence." 

Having now shown by numerous disinter- 
ested authorities, the majority of whom be- 
long to the medical profession, that the men- 
tal states of belief, faith and expectancy, 
and their negative aspects of fear, appre- 
hension, and false-belief, may, and do, in- 
fluence physicial conditions, functioning and 



172 Mind and Body 

activities, irrespective of tlie particular 
theory, creed, or explanation accepted by the 
patient himself, or herself, we see the neces- 
sity of seeking for the common principle of 
cure manifesting in the various forms of 
phenomena. And before this common prin- 
ciple may be grasped, we must needs acquaint 
ourselves with the physical organism in- 
volved in the process of cure. Accordingly 
the several succeeding chapters will be de- 
voted to that phase of the general subject. 



CHAPTER IX 

PSYCHO-THERAPEUTIC METHODS 

The reader will have seen from the pre- 
ceding chapters that we have proceeded 
upon the theory that Suggestion is the uni- 
versal operative principle manifesting in all 
forms of mental healing, under whatever 
guise the latter may be presented and by 
whatever method it may be applied. But 
it must be remembered that by ** Suggestion'* 
we do not mean the theories of any particu- 
lar group of psycho-therapists, but rather 
the broad general principle indicated by that 
term which operates in the direction of in- 
fluencing the Subconscious Mind and its ac- 
tivities. Let us consider the principle of 
Suggestion that we may understand what it 
is, and what it is not. 

The term '* Suggestion" has as its root 
the Latin word suggero, which is trans- 
lated as follows: sug (or sub), ''under;" and 
gero, '*to carry;" that is, ''to carry or place 

173 



174 Mind and Body 

under." In its general usage it signifies 
'^The introduction indirectly into the mind 
or thoughts ; or that which is so introduced. ' ' 
Ordinarily a ** suggestion" is an idea in- 
directly insinuated into the mind, and gen- 
erally without the process of argument or 
reasoning. In the New Psychology, the term 
'^^suggestioki" is used in the sense of an 
idea which is '* carried under" the objec- 
tive or conscious mind, and introduced to 
the subjective or Subconscious Mind. In 
Suggestive Therapeutics, a ^^ suggestion" is 
an idea introduced into that part of the 
Subconscious Mind which governs and con- 
trols the physical functions and activities, 
and which is embodied in the cells and cell- 
groups of the body as we have stated in the 
preceding chapters. 

By many mental healers the term ^'Sug- 
gestion" is applied only to the particular 
method of applying Suggestion employed by 
physicians and others who practice under the 
general theories of Suggestive Therapeutics, 
and the first mentioned class deny that they 
use Suggestion because, as they say, they do 
not use the methods of the practitioners of 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 175 

Suggestive Therapeutics, and make their 
cures by '^ metaphysical" or ** spiritual'' 
means, or according to some creed or meta- 
physical theory which, accepted, works the 
cure. We think that the unprejudiced 
reader who has followed us this far will have 
seen that these metaphysical theories, creeds, 
and special dogmas are simply the outward 
mask of Suggestion. These healers simply 
supply a form of Suggestion which is accept- 
able to the patient because of his tempera- 
ment, training, etc., and the healing process 
operates along the lines of the ' ' faith cure. ' ' 
The fact that healers of entirely opposite 
theories and doctrines manage to make cures 
in about the same proportion and in about 
the same time, would seem to prove that the 
theories or dogmas have but little to do with 
the real work of healing. Whatever form 
of Suggestion is most acceptable to the pa- 
tient, will best perform the healing work in 
that particular case. This will also serve 
to explain why some patients failing to ob- 
tain relief from one school of mental heal- 
ing often are cured by healers of another 



176 Mind and Body 

school, and vice versa. Some need Sugges- 
tion couched in the mystical terms of some 
of the cults; others need it garbed in relig- 
ious drapings, while others prefer some 
vague metaphysical theory which seems 
to explain the phenomena. Others still are 
repelled by any of the above forms, but re- 
spond readily to the Suggestion of a physi- 
cian administering *^ straight" suggestive 
treatment, without any religious, metaphysi- 
cal, or mystical disguise. In all of these 
'cases the real healing work is done by the 
Subconscious Mind of the patient himself, 
the various forms of Suggestion serving mere- 
ly to awaken and rouse into activity the la- 
tent forces of nature. 

We invite your consideration of the fol- 
lowing forms of * treatment'* for various 
disorders, as given by some of the ** Divine 
Scientists" and other metaphysical and 
semi-religious organizations and cults. As 
you read them, try to discover the Sugges- 
tive germ so nicely surrounded by the sugar- 
coating— the Suggestive pill so cleverly con- 
cealed by the ** metaphysical" raisin. 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 177 

From a journal published in Chicago sev- 
eral years ago, called ^^ Universal Truth/ ^ 
the following '^treatments" were clipped: 

[A. correspondent who asked for a *^ treat- 
ment" adapted to the cure of nervousness, 
is instructed to use the following formula, 
.which must be *' repeated over and over": 

**I am warmed and fed and clothed and 
healed hy Divine Love.'' 

Another correspondent is given the fol- 
lowing formula for the cure of sore feet, the 
affirmation to be made frequently: 

'*I so thoroughly understand the divine 
working of the Truth, and I so thoroughly 
realize the presence of the Father in me and 
about me that I am now conscious that omnip- 
otent Love rules in every atom of my being, 
soul and body. My feet can never be tveary 
nor sore. God created my feet perfect. I 
walk the pathway of life in perfect ease and 
comfort. All the obstacles in my path have 
vanished, and my feet are bathed in a sea of 
pure love. Through a knoivledge and reali- 
zation of the presence of Omnipotence, I 
praise and thank God for the perfect spirit 
of peace that now dwells within me." 



178 Mind and Body 

The following additional ** treatment" is 
suggested to this sufferer from sore feet: 

'^Mentally place yourself in an attitude to 
realize the power of the words you utter, for 
the fullness of peace and harmony in your 
feet comes with realization. The more fre- 
quently this spiritual medicine is used, 
the sooner comes manifestation of perfect 
health.'' 

The same journal contained the following 
item: 

'^The following invigorating affirmations 
are used at the Exodus Club, Chicago, Sun- 
day mornings, the congregation repeating 
them after the leader: 'With reverent recog- 
nition of my birthright, I claim my son ship 
ivith the Almighty. I am free from disease 
and disorder. I am in harmony with my 
source. The Infinite Health is made mani- 
fest in me. The Infinite .Substance is my 
constant supply. The Infinite Life fills and 
strengthens me. The Infinite Intelligence il- 
lumines and directs me. The Infinite Love 
surrounds and protects me. The Infinite 
Power upholds and supports me. I am out 
of bondage. I have the freedom of the sons 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 179 

of God, With all that is in me I rejoice and 
give thanks. God and man are the all in all, 
noiv and forever more,' " 

The same journal recommends the follow- 
ing affirmations for general health treat- 
ment : 

'* Monday— Per/ec^ health is my external 
birthright, 

Tuesday— 7 have health of intellect, there- 
fore I have ivise judgment and clear under- 
standing, 

Wednesday—/ am morally healthful, there- 
fore in all my dealings I love to realize that 
I am quickened by the spirit of integrity, 

ThuYsdaj— Health fidness of soul gives me 
a pure heart and righteousness of motive in 
everything I do, 

Fridaj— Meditation upon the health of my 
real being outpictures in physical health and 
strength, in even temper, joyous spirits and 
in kind words, 

Saturday— M^ health is inexhaustible, be- 
cause I keep my eye steadily fixed upon its 
eternal Principle, and my mouth filled with 
words of its Omnipotence, 

Sunday— T/ie Father and I are one; one 



180 Mind and Body 



in purpose, alike in Substance, and one in 
manifestation/* 

In the same journal a correspondent gives 
tlie following treatment for rupture: 

"You were conceived in Divine Love. You 
are the expression of that pure, perfect Love, 
Divine Love is a binding, cementing power. 
It is the power that holds all atoms in their 
places. Every atom of your body is drawn 
and held together in its place by this power. 
If any of them get separated as by rupture 
* or any other appearance, they may be drawn 
together and cemented by the omnipotent 
power of Love; but the word must be spoken. 
Therefore use the following: 'The omnipo- 
tent spirit of Love in me heals this rupture 
and gives me peace,' Then, mentally real- 
ize the truth of your words, for the Spirit 
alone can heal,*' 

The following treatment for appendicitis 
is given in the same journal : 

''The false theories of physicians and sur- 
geons, and the general impressions regard- 
ing that error named Appendicitis are pow- 
erless to produce or perpetuate such mani- 
festation. The great law of harmony reigns 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 181 

and only ivaits the universal acknowledg- 
ment of its supremacy to obliterate all such 
falsity, thereby obliterating the manifesta- 
tion. We claim, therefore, freedom from 
such error for every soul. We make this 
claim in the name of Jesus Christ/' 

From tlie same source is taken this treat- 
ment for periodical nausea in a child: 

^^Dear child, every organ of your body is 
designed to represent the ideal and perfect 
organ in your real spiritual being; and every 
function of your body must respond to the 
word of truth which is now sent forth to es- 
tablish hnrmony in your consciousness. The 
infinite Love that is omnipresent and all- 
powerful permeates and penetrates every 
organ and function of your body, and cor- 
rects every tendency to discord or disease. 
By that infinite Love you are now made 
free. You are fearless and free. You are 
joyous and free. You are free from the fear 
of others. You manifest health, strength 
and peace. Harmony reigns in mind and 
body. The word of truth has made you 
freer 



182 Mind and Body 

[Also tlie following treatment for constipa- 
tion: 

'*I do realize that the poiver of divine 
Love so permeates every atom of my being 
that my bowels move freely and without ef- 
fort. This inflowing of divine Love removes 
all obstructions and I am healed, I realize 
joy and eternal life so fully that the spirit of 
Peace is ever present with me, I acknowl- 
edge the fullness of joy, peace and power, 
and have come into a realization of my one- 
ness with infinite Spirit; therefore I rest in 
thee, my father/' 

Another journal of *^ Divine Science" gave 
tlie following ** Health Thought" to be held 
during the month: 

''All the natural channels of my body are 
open and free. The substance of my body is 
good.'' 

Also the following treatment for general 
health: 

"What is true of God is true of man, God 
is the One All, and is always in a state of 
wholeness. I, the man of God, am always 
whole, nice unto the One All, No false belief 
environs or limits me. No shadow darkens 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 183 

my mental vision. My body is a heavenly 
body, and my eyes do behold the glory of 
God in all visible things, I am well, and pro- 
vided for, thank God, and nothing can make 
me think otherwise,*' 

While to the orthodox practitioner of 
medicine the above affirmation and ^'treat- 
ments'' may seem to be nothing but a ridicu- 
lous conglomeration of mystical, religious 
and metaphysical terms, without sequence, 
logical relation, or common-sense, it is true 
that statements and treatments similar to 
the above have successfidly healed many 
cases of physical ailments. There are thou- 
sands of people who will testify that they 
were healed in a similar manner, and the 
majority of them believed that there was 
some particular and peculiar virtue in the 
formula used, or in the theories and beliefs 
upon which the formula was based. But the 
imprejudiced student of Suggestion will 
readily see that the real healing force was 
with the mind and being of the i^atients 
themselves, and that the faith, belief and ex- 
pectant attention was aroused by the formula 
and the theories. The principle is that of 



184 Mind and Body 

all Faith Cures— the principle of Sugges- 
tion. 

Other schools of metaphysical or religious 
healers treat the patient by impressing upon 
his mind the fact that God being perfect, 
good and loving could not be guilty of creat- 
ing evil, pain or disease, and that such 
things are non-existent in the '* Divine 
Mind," and are merely illusion, errors, or 
false claims of the *' mortal mind," or ''car- 
nal mind" of the patient; therefore, if the 
patient will deny their reality, and will ad- 
mit as existent only such things as are held 
in the Divine Mind, i, e., the good things, 
then the evil things, being merely illusions 
and untruths, must of necessity fade away 
and disappear and perfect health will result. 
Others treat their patients by impressing 
upon their minds the idea that sickness and 
disease is either the world or ''the devil," 
or of the "principle of evil," the latter be- 
ing described as "the negation of truth," 
and similar terms; and that therefore fixing 
the mind and faith upon the "principle of 
Good," or God, must result in driving away 



Psycho-Thebapeutic Methods 185 

the evil conditions. Others hold that disem- 
bodied spirits are aiding in the cure. There 
are thousands of variations rung on the 
chimes of metaphysical or religious sugges- 
tions in the cults. And they all make some 
cures, remember— m spite of their theories 
rather than because of them. 

The Mental Scientists come nearest to the 
ideas of the New Psychology, when they 
teach that **As a man thinketh, so is he,'' 
and that the mind of man creates physical 
conditions, good and evil, and that the con- 
stant holding of the ideal of perfect health 
and the assertion thereof, will restore nor- 
mal healthy conditions to the person suffer- 
ing from physical ailments. Mental Science 
is very near to being ^* straight suggestion" 
so far as the actual method of treatment is 
concerned, although it resembles some of the 
other cults when it begins to speculate or 
dogmatize regarding the nature of the uni- 
verse, etc. 

Differing from these metaphysical, mysti- 
cal, or religious schools of healing in theory, 
although employing the same principle, we 
find the school of Suggestive Therapeutics, 



186 Mind and Body 

proper, favored by many of the regular 
physicians and by a number of other healers 
who base their treatment upon the idea of 
** straight suggestion" coupled with hygienic 
truth and rational physiological facts. Per- 
haps a better idea of the theories and ideas 
of this school may be obtained by referring 
to the actual treatments given by some of 
their leading practitioners. 

Herbert A. Parkyn, M. D., an eminent 
practitioner of Suggestive Therapeutics, 
gives the following instruction to his pupils : 
^* Students often ask for information as to 
what they should say to a patient when 
thorough relaxation is realized. As no two 
cases are exactly alike, it follows that the 
suggestions given must necessarily fit the 
case, and be given with a view to bring 
about the mental and physical condition de- 
sired. For instance, in treating a patient 
who is afflicted with insomnia, suggestions 
of sleep should be persistently given; and 
in cases of malnutrition suggestions of hun- 
ger should be made to stimulate the appetite 
for food. The operator should bear in mind 
that the reiteration of the suggestion that 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 187 

tvill change the condition existing, to that 
desired, is always the right one, and Ms own 
intelligence will be the best guarantee as to 
what the suggestion should be. . . . Al- 
ways arouse the expectant attention of a pa- 
tient. ... So logical a line of argument 
can be made that each patient will have a 
reason for expecting certain conditions to be 
brought about. With the patient's atten- 
tion on the desired results, they generally 
come to pass. It is better not to give nega- 
tive suggestions, such as, *You will not, or 
cannot do this, that or the other thing,' etc. 
Pointing out what is not desirable does not 
suffice. In place of such suggestions, tell 
what you really wish your patients to do. 
For example, if a man should mount his 
bicycle incorrectly, he would profit nothing 
if we should merely tell him that the way he 
mounted was not the proper one. How much 
easier it would be for all concerned if the 
proper manner of mounting should be shown 
at once. Just so it is with therapeutic sug- 
gestions, keep suggesting the conditions of 
mind or body you wish to bring about/' 



188 Mind and Body 

The following treatment given as an ex- 
ample by F. W. Southworth, M. D., in his 
little book on ^^True Metapliysical Science, 
and its Practical Application through the 
Law of Suggestion, " furnishes an excellent 
illustration of the form of suggestive treat- 
ment favored by this particular school. The 
patient is addressed as follows: 

^^As thoughts are not only things, but 
forces and act upon our mental and physical 
life for good or ill, we must be careful to 
always keep ourselves in that condition of 
thought which builds up and strengthens, to 
constantly think thoughts of health, of hap- 
piness, of good, to be cheerful, hopeful, con- 
fident and fearless. (Eepeat five or six 
times.) In order to sustain this condition 
of positive thinking it requires the develop- 
ment of the will power. The will is the 
motive power and the controlling force in all 
aspects of our life, but we develop it espe- 
cially for the concentration and control of 
thought. This is the higher self —the infinite 
will. Exercise it with vigor and earnest 
persistency, and learn to rely upon it. As- 
sert its power as you assert the power of the 



Psycho-Thekapeutic Methods 189 

muscles in exercise and it will manifest it- 
self and the thought will be positive, the 
secretions of the body will be normal, and 
the circulation of the blood in the head will 
be kept at that proper equilibrium which in- 
sures the constant nutrition of the cells of 
the brain and their constant vigor and 
strength of control of all the organs and tis- 
sues of the body, and this vast and intricate 
machinery of the body will work har- 
moniously for the production of nutrition 
through elaboration of the food elements. 

**As our body is constantly changing and 
wasting, we must rebuild and restore it con- 
stantly, and we do so from the air we 
breathe, the water we drink, and the food 
we eat. The most important of these is the 
air you breathe, as it is not only a food in 
itself to the tissues, but it vitalizes the food 
you eat and the water you drink. Give it 
that quality of your thought and breathe it 
as you have been directed at least six times 
per day for a period of from five to ten min- 
utes each time. Eecognize it as both a food 
and an eliminator of poisons, as it is, and 



190 Mind and Body 

breathe, breatlie, breathe, by Nature's meth- 
od, and the lungs will distribute the oxy- 
gen to the blood, and the blood being 
the common carrier of the body will take 
it to all parts of the body and on its return 
will gather up all the waste and poisonous 
matters and will bring them to the lungs, 
where, meeting the fresh oxygen, they will 
be burned up and exhaled as carbonic acid 
gas, leaving the body pure and clean. 

**The water you drink, in the proportion 
of three and one-half pints each day, is 
necessary in all adult bodies to insure per- 
fect secretion and excretion. As the result 
of this required liquid being provided in nor- 
mal quantity, the secreting glands will 
manufacture the proper amount of juices 
needed in digestion, absorption and assimi- 
lation of your food, and the excreting glands, 
those which bring about excretion or the re- 
moval of waste matters from the body— the 
liver giving you the bile, which produces a 
daily movement of the bowels— the kidneys 
and bladder removing the chemical deposits 
which come about through the processes of 
digestion, and the skin excreting a large 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 191 

amount of waste matter from its twelve 
square feet of surface, which you remove 
with a towel each morning after moistening 
it with cold water. By following these laws 
of Nature you will have a good appetite and 
digestion, a daily movement of the bowels, 
refreshing sleep, and, as your nutrition is 
restored from day to day, a feeling of satis- 
faction and happiness will be the result. Be 
earnest and persistent and do everything 
cheerfully, with a firm determination of do- 
ing your part to restore nutrition. 

**When you breathe, give it the quality of 
your thought; it is for the purpose of get- 
ting food, life; feeding from the air and 
eliminating poisons from your body. (Ke- 
peat five and six times.) When you sip the 
water, think each time that it is to produce 
perfect secretion and excretion— to give you 
a good appetite, digestion, refreshing sleep 
and a free movement of the bowels each 
morning. (Repeat ^ve or six times.) Each 
day look forward to the morrow for prog- 
ress and advancement. Think health— talk 
it and nothing else. Do not talk with any- 
one about disease or allow any person to 



192 MiN-D AND Body 

talk to you on such subjects. Be cheerful, 
hopeful, confident and fearless always, and 
you will be happy and healthy. Eat, drink, 
breathe and be merry." 

It will be noticed that in the above de- 
scribed treatment, the suggestions are made 
along physiological and hygienic lines. That 
is, the suggestions indicate the physiological 
processes which are performed normally in 
the healthy person, the idea being to set up 
an ideal pattern for the Subconscious mind 
to follow. In all scientific suggestive treat- 
ment the idea is always to paint a mental 
picture of the desired conditions rather than 
to dwell upon the existing undesirable con- 
ditions. The ideal is always held up to view, 
and the patient's mind is led to realize the 
ideal— to make the ideal real— to manifest 
the thought in action— to materialize the 
mental picture. 

The general principles of Suggestive 
Therapeutics may be applied effectively by 
means of Auto-Suggestion. In fact, the * * af- 
firmations," ** statements" and ** asser- 
tions" used by many of the New Thought 
schools are but forms of Auto-Suggestion. 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 193 

There is no essential difference between the 
Suggestion given by others, and the Auto- 
suggestion given by one's self to one's self. 
The healing power is in the mind of the pa- 
tient, and whether it is called forth by his 
own Auto-Suggestion or the Suggestion of a 
healer matters not. The Auto-Suggestion is 
merely a case of self-healing by Suggestion, 
and is administered upon the principle of 
*' every man his own suggestionisf— ^*sez I 
to meself, sez I." Auto-Suggestions are 
usually given to one's self in the form of 
*^ affirmations," as, *^I am improving; my 
stomach is doing its work well, digesting 
what is given it, and the nourishment is as- 
similated, etc." In other works by the 
writer hereof, the method of addressing 
one's self as one would another is recom- 
mended as particularly efficacious. That is 
to say, instead of sa^^ng, **/ am, etc," in 
Auto-Suggestion, it is better to address one's 
self in the second person, as ^^John Smith 
(naming yourself), you are, etc." In short, 
the Auto-Suggestion seems to have addi- 
tional force imparted to it by being directed 
as if it were being given to another person. 



194 Mind and Body 

The following thought of Dr. Schofield is 
worthy of careful consideration in connec- 
tion with the methods of applying Sugges- 
tion. He says, referring to the treatment of 
hysterical disorders and ailments: **"We 
must, however, remember one great point 
with regard to suggestion— that it is like 
nitrogen. Nitrogen is the essential element 
in all animal life ; it forms four-fifths of the 
air we breathe, and yet, curious to say, we 
have no power to use it in a pure state. We 
can only take it unconsciously, when com- 
bined with other substances in the form of 
proteid food. It is the same with sugges- 
tions. Not one hysterical sufferer in a hun- 
dred can receive and profit by them in a raw 
state— that is, consciously; they must gener- 
ally be presented, as we have said, indirectly 
to the sub-conscious mind by the treatment 
and environment of the patient. An elec- 
tric shock often cures slight hysterical dis- 
eases instantaneously, acting, as it often 
does, on the unconscious mind through the 
conscious. No doubt it would be easier if we 
could say to these sufferers, ^The disease is 
caused by suggestions from ideal centers, 



Psycho-Therapeutic Methods 195 

and to cure it, all you have to do is to 
believe you are well.' Still, it would be as 
impossible for us to take our nitrogen pure 
from the air, the mind cannot as a rule be 
thus acted on directly when the brain is un- 
healthy. Suggestion must be wrapped in ob- 
jective treatment, directed ostensibly and 
vigorously to the simulated disease." 

Not only is the above true regarding the 
treatment of hysterical disorders, but to all 
disorders as well. The methods which will 
bring about the best results must be care- 
fully modeled upon the patient's particular 
temperament, education, prejudices for and 
against, and general belief. The skilled sug- 
gestionist adapts his treatment and methods 
to each individual case coming to him for 
treatment. Whatever method will best 
arouse the patient's belief, faith and expect- 
ant attention is the best method for admin- 
istering the suggestions. The successful 
suggestionist must be ^ ' all things to all men, ' ' 
never, however, losing sight of the funda- 
mental principle of Suggestion— the arous- 
ing of faith, belief, and expectant attention. 



CHAPTEE X 

THE EEACTIOK OF THE PHYSICAE 

[As we have stated in our Foreword, there 
is a constant action and reaction between the 
Mental States and the Physical Conditions. 
In this book, from the nature of our subject, 
we have started with the phase of the Men- 
tal State and worked from that point to the 
consideration of the Physical Condition. In 
the same way, many physiologists start from 
the phase of the Physical Condition, and 
work up to the Mental State. But, starting 
from either phase, the candid investigator 
must admit that there is an endless chain of 
action and reaction between Mind and Body 
—between Body and Mind. 

This action and reaction works along the 
lines of building-up as well as tearing-down. 
For instance, if a person's Mental States are 
positive, optimistic, cheerful and uplifting, 
the body will respond and the Physical Con- 
ditions will improve. The Physical Condi' 

196 



Reaction of the Physical 197 

tions, thus improving, will react upon the 
Mental States giving them a clearness and 
strength greater than previously manifested. 
The improved Mental State again acts upon 
the Physical Conditions, improving the lat- 
ter still further. xVnd so on, an endless chain 
of cause and effect, each effect becoming a 
cause for a subsequent effect, and each cause 
arising from a preceding effect. Likewise, a 
depressed, harmful Mental State will act 
upon the Physical Conditions, which in turn 
will react upon the Mental States, and so on, 
in an endless chain of destructive cause and 
effect. It is a striking illustration of the old 
Biblical statement: ^^To him who hath shall 
be given ; to him who hath not shall be taken 
away even that which he hath.'' In improv- 
ing either the Mental State or the Physical 
Condition, one gives an uplift to the whole 
process of action and reaction; while, what- 
ever adversely affects either Mental State or 
Physical Condition, starts into operation a 
depressing and destructive process of action 
and reaction. The ideal to be aimed at is, of 
course, '*A healthy Mind in a healthy Body" 
—and the two are so closely related that 



198 Mind and Body 

wliat affects one, favorably or unfavorably, 
is sure to react upon the otber. 

Just as the influence of the Mental States 
over the Physical Conditions has been 
shown to operate by means of the Sympa- 
thetic Nervous System (controlled of course 
by the Subconscious Mind), so the influence 
of Physical Conditions over Mental States 
may be explained in physiological terms. 
In order to understand the reaction of the 
Body upon the Mind, we have but to recall 
-the fact that the Subconscious Mind is the 
builder and preserver of the very brain- 
cells which are used by the Conscious Mind 
in manifesting thought. And also, that the 
entire Nervous System, both Cerebro-Spinal 
as well as Sympathetic, is really under the 
control of the Subconscious Mind so far as 
growth ^nd nourishment is concerned. The 
very brain and nerve-centers in and through 
which is manifested thought, feeling, emo- 
tion, and will, are nourished by the Sympa- 
thetic System, and are hurt by anything af- 
fecting the latter. The Sympathetic System 
joins all parts of the organism so closely to- 
gether that trouble in one part is reflected 



Reaction of the Physical 199 

in other parts. Just as depressing thoughts 
will cause the organs to function improperly, 
so will the improper functioning of an or- 
gan tend to produce depressing thoughts. 

Herbert A. Parkyn, M. D., well states the 
action and reaction of Mind and Body, as 
follows: *^A tree is much like a human be- 
ing. Give it plenty of fresh air, water and 
a rich soil, and it will flourish. In the same 
degree in which it is deprived of these does 
it wilt, and the first part of the tree to wilt 
when the nutrition becomes imperfect is the 
top. This is owing to the force of gravity; 
the blood of the tree, the sap, having to 
overcome this force of nature when nourish- 
ing the highest leaves. The blood of man is 
also affected by this same force, and the 
moment a man's circulation begins to run 
down, owing to stinted nutrition, we find 
that the first symptoms of trouble appear in 
the head. ... The brain failing to re- 
ceive its accustomed amount of blood, such 
troubles as impaired memory, inability to 
concentrate the attention, sleeplessness, ner- 
vousness, irritableness, the blues and slight 
headaches develop ; and the impulses sent all 



200 Mind and Body 

over tlie body becoming feebler, tbe various 
organs do not perform their functions as 
satisfactorily as usual. Tbe impulses to tbe 
stomach and bowels becoming weaker and 
weaker, dyspepsia, or constipation, or both, 
soon follow. As soon as these, the main or- 
gans of nutrition, are out of order, nutrition 
fails rapidly and more *head symptoms' de- 
velop. Every impulse of the muscular sys- 
tern leaves the brain, and the strength of 
these impulses depends upon the nutrition 
to the brain centers controlling the various 
groups. As the nutrition to these centers 
declines, the whole muscular system, includ- 
ing the muscles of the bowels, becomes 
weaker and the patient complains that he 
exhausts easily. The impulses for elimina- 
tion becoming weaker, waste products re^ 
main in the circulation, and any of the evils, 
which naturally follow this state of a:ffairs, 
such as rheumatism, sick-headache, bilious- 
ness, etc., are likely to develop. The centers 
of the special senses feeling the lessening of 
the vital fluid, such troubles as impaired 
vision, impaired hearing, loss of appetite 
(sense of taste) and inability to detect odors 



Reactioi^ of the Physical 201 

quickly soon follow. The sense of toueli be- 
comes more acute, and it is for this reason 
that one in poor health becomes hypersensi- 
tive. Lowered circulation in the mucous 
membrane of the throat and nose is often 
the cause of nasal catarrh appearing on the 
scene as an early symptom." 

It will thus be seen that the Physical Con- 
ditions, perhaps originally caused by de- 
pressing Mental States, have brought about 
a state of affairs in which the brain is im- 
perfectly nourished and which consequently 
cannot think properly. The liver being out 
of order, the spirits are depressed; the brain 
being imperfectly nourished, the attention 
and will are weakened, and the patient finds 
it hard to use his mind to influence his bod- 
ily conditions. The bowels not moving 
properly, the waste-products poison the cir- 
culation, and the brain is unable to think 
clearly. In fact, the whole physical system 
is often so disturbed that a condition known 
as ** nervous prostration" sets in, in which 
it is practically impossible for the patient to 
hold the Mental States which will improve 



202 Mind and Body 

tlie Physical Conditions. In these cases out- 
side help is generally necessary, unless in 
cases where a sudden shock, or an urgent 
necessity arouses the latent mental forces of 
the individual, and he asserts the power that 
is in him, and hegins to reverse the chain of 
cause and effect and to start on the upward 
climb. 

The following additional quotation from 
Dr. Parkyn, gives us a vivid insight into the 
effect upon the Mental States of abnormal 
•Physical Conditions : Dr. Parkyn says : * ^ No 
organ of the body can perform its functions 
properly when the amount of blood supplied 
to it is insufficient, and we find, when the 
blood supply to the brain is not up to the 
normal standard, that brain functions are 
interfered with to a degree corresponding to 
the reduction in the circulation. Since the 
amount of blood normally supplied to the 
brain is lessened in nervous prostration, we 
find that the memory fails and the ability to 
concentrate the attention disappears. The 
reasoning power becomes weakened and the 
steadiest mind commences to vacillate. 



Eeaction of the Physical 203 

Fears and hallucinations of every descrip- 
tion may fill the mind of a patient at this 
stage, and every impression he receives is 
likely to be greatly distorted or miscon- 
strued. Melancholia with a constant fear of 
impending danger is often present. In fact, 
the brain seems to lose even the power to 
control its functions, and the mind becomes 
active day and night. . . . The reduc- 
tion of the nutrition to the brain lessens the 
activity of all the cerebral centers also, 
and digestion becomes markedly impaired, 
thereby weakening the organ itself upon 
which the supply of vital force depends.'' 

The physiologist is able to furnish a great 
variety of illustrations of the effect of Phys- 
ical Conditions over Mental States. He 
shows that many cases of mental trouble are 
due to eye-strain, and other muscular dis- 
turbances, and that serious mental com- 
plaints sometimes arise by reason of phys- 
ical lesions. The very terms used to desig- 
nate certain abnormal mental states show 
the relation, as for instance, melancholia 
which is derived from the Greek words 
meaning *^ black bile"; and hysteria, which 



204 Mind and Body 

is derived from tlie Greek word meaning ' * the 
womb; or nterus." Every one knows the 
Mental States produced by a sluggish liver, 
or by dyspepsia, or from constipation. We 
all know the difference between our mental 
capacity for thinking when we are tired, as 
contrasted with that accompanying the re- 
freshed physical condition. No man, what- 
ever his philosophy, can truthfully claim to 
be able to maintain a placid, even disposi- 
tion, and a perfectly controlled temper, when 
he is suffering from a boil on the back of his 
neck. And, all know that after indulging in 
the midnight ^^ Welsh rarebit," one is apt to 
dream of his grandmother's ghost, or see 
dream elephants with wings. All know the 
delirium produced by overindulgence in 
liquor, and the hallucinatiolns that accom- 
pany fever. The effect of drugs, tobacco, 
and alcohol upon the Mental States are well 
known. ** Philip drunk" is a very different 
mentality from *^ Philip sober." The Men- 
tal States accompanying particular diseases 
are well known to physicians. One disease 
predisposes the sufferer to gloominess, while 



Eeaction of the Physical 205 

another will induce a state of feverish hi- 
larity. Some leading authorities now hold 
that many cases of insanity are really due 
to abnormal conditions of the blood, rather 
than to any diseased condition of the brain. 
One of the most marked instances of the 
action and reaction of Mental States and 
Physical Conditions is met with in the ac- 
tivities of the sexual organism. Psycholo- 
gists very properly hold that sexual excesses 
and abnormalities are largely due to improper 
thinking, that is, by allowing the attention 
and interest to dwell too strongly and continu- 
ously upon subjects connected with the ac- 
tivities of that part of the physical system. 
Mental treatment along the lines of Sugges- 
tive Therapeutics has resulted in curing 
many persons of troubles of this sort. But, 
note the correlated fact— excess and. abnor- 
malities of the kind mentioned, almost in- 
variably react upon the mentality of the per- 
son indulging in them, and softening of the 
brain, paralysis, or imbecility have often 
arisen directly from these physical abuses. 
It will be seen that any sane treatment of 
these troubles must take into consideration 



206 Mind and Body 

both Body and Mind. In the same way it is 
a fact that jnst as certain Mental States, no- 
tably those of fear, worry, grief, jealousy, 
etc., will injuriously affect the organs of di- 
gestion and assimilation, so will imperfect 
functioning of these organs tend to produce 
depressing mental states similar to those 
just mentioned. Many instances of the 
strange correspondences are met with in the 
study of physiological-psychology, or psy- 
chological-physiology. 

In order to more fully appreciate the re- 
lation between the Body and the Mind, let 
us read the following lines from Prof. Hal- 
leck: ^* Marvelous as are the mind's achieve- 
ments, we must note that it is as completely 
dependent upon the nervous system as is a 
plant upon sun, rain and air. Suppose a 
child of intelligent parents were ushered into 
the world without a nerve leading from his 
otherwise perfect brain to any portion of his 
body, with no optic nerve to transmit the 
glorious sensations from the eye, no audi- 
tory nerve to conduct the vibrations of the 
mother's voice, no tactile nerves to convey 
the touch of a hand, no olfactory nerve to 



Reaction of the Physicai. 207 

rouse the brain with the delicate aroma from 
the orchards and the wild flowers in spring, 
no gustatory, thermal or muscular nerves. 
Could such a child live, as the years rolled 
on, the books of Shakespeare and of Milton 
would be opened in vain before the child's 
eyes. The wisest men might talk to him 
with utmost eloquence, all to no purpose. 
Nature could not whisper one of her inspir- 
ing truths into his deaf ear, could not light 
up that dark mind with a picture of the rain- 
bow or of a human face. No matter how 
perfect might be the child's brain and his 
inherited capacity for mental activities, his 
faculties would remain for this life shrouded 
in Egyptian darkness. Perception could 
give memory nothing to retain, and thought 
could not weave her matchless fabrics with- 
out materials." 

The very feelings or emotions themselves 
are so closely related to the accompanying 
physical expressions, that it is difficult to 
distinguish between cause and effect, or in- 
deed to state positively which really is 
the cause of the other. Prof. William 



208 Mind and Body 

James, in some of his works, strongly in- 
dicates this close relation, as for instance 
when he says: '^The feeling, in the coarser 
emotions, result from the bodily expression. 
. . . My theory is that the bodily changes 
follow directly the perception of the excit- 
ing fact, and that onr feeling of the same 
changes as they occur is the emotion. . . . 
Particular perceptions certainly do produce 
widespread bodily effects by a sort of imme- 
diate physical influence, antecedent to the 
arousal of an emotion or emotional idea. 
. . . Every one of the bodily changes, 
whatsoever it may be, is felt, acutely or ob- 
scurely, the moment it occurs. ... If 
we fancy some strong emotion, and then try 
to abstract from our consciousness of it all 
the feelings of its bodily symptoms, we have 
nothing left behind. ... A disembodied 
human emotion is a sheer nonentity. I do 
not say that it is a contradiction in the na- 
ture of things, or that pure spirits are neces- 
sarily condemned to cold intellectual lives; 
but I say that for us emotion disassociated 
from all bodily feelings is inconceivable. 
The more closely I scrutinize my states, the 




Reaction of the Physical 209 

more persuaded I become that wliatever 
^coarse' affections and passions I have are 
in very truth constituted by, and made up 
of, those bodily changes which we ordinarily 
call their expression or consequence. . . . 
But our emotions must always be imvardly 
what they are, whatever may be the physio- 
logical ground of their apparition. If they 
are deep, pure, worthy, spiritual facts on 
any conceivable theory of their physiologi- 
cal source, they remain no less deep, more 
spiritual, and worthy of regard on this pres- 
ent sensational theory.'' 

A deeper consideration of the relation be- 
tween Mind and Body would necessitate our 
invading the field of metaphysical specula- 
tion, which we have expressed our intention 
to avoid doing. Enough for the purposes of 
our present consideration is: the recognition 
that each individual is possessed of a mind 
and a material body; that these two phases 
or aspects of himself are closely related by 
an infinite variety of ties and filaments; that 
these tivo phases of his being act and react 
npon each other constantly and continu- 
ously; that in all considerations of the ques- 



210 Mind and Body 

tion of either mental or physical well-being , 
or both, that both of these phases of being 
must be considered; that any system of 
therapeutics which ignores either of these 
phases, is necessarily '^one-sided*' and in- 
complete; and that, while, for con^venience 
and clearness of specialized thinking, we 
may consider the Mind and the Body as sep- 
arate and independent of each other, yet, we 
must, in the end, recognize their interde- 
pendence, mutual relation, action and reac- 
tion. 

Thus, the New Psychology recognizes the 
importance of the Body, while the New Phys- 
iology recognizes the importance of the 
Mind. And, in the end, we feel that both 
physiology and psychology must be recog- 
nized as being but two different phases of 
one great science—the Science of Life. 



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